Time for the Truth
by melmoxx
Summary: When Stiles comes across a girl in the middle of the woods in the middle of the night he's not sure what to think. All he knows is he wants to know more, but he's already got a lot going on. The hunt is on for Boyd and Cora, it's a game of hide and seek with the alpha pack, not to mention a new slew of murders, plus dealing with his love for Lydia and his hateful teacher. Stiles/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Thanks for giving my story a shot! This will be the first story I've put up on this site and I hope it lives up to the other great works. It is a work in process so there is more to come. You should know I use lines across the middle of the page to separate scenes to cut out the boring stuff. At this point I can't say how frequently the story will be updated, but I've definitely got more story planned. This story starts right after the first two episodes of Season three and is told from Stiles' perspective. The only character I own is Maxine. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I have writing it!**

"I will kill that kid when I get to him…" I swear at him over and over under my white cloud breath. "He left me, no car, no wolf powers…" I tug my thin sweatshirt closer hoping for a relief from the cold. Again I feel like someone is watching me. I spin around my flashlight dancing through the leaf loosing trees. Again no one is there. "I will destroy you Scott Mc-" There is a snap and I know it hasn't come from under my vans. "Someone there?" I splutter, and then reconsider my call. Why would I ask a question I don't want to know the answer to? "Never mind!"

"Why are you out here?" A girl with brunette hair tied up into a side braid steps out from behind a nearby tree sending me tripping backwards into the soggy leaves.

"Holy God!" I scream grabbing at my chest. I take a moment to recover and look over the girl. She's got to be in high school, but I don't know who she is. "Why are you out here!"

"Doing research," she shrugs and steps around me.

"On what! It's the middle of the night and you're in the middle of the woods!" I yell standing up brushing off my pants.

"You're kind of nosy aren't you?" she smirks at me and I don't know how to answer. She stands an inch or two shorter then me with her hands on her jean-covered hips. I flash the light over her torso and instantly take notice of her breasts, they're maybe even large enough to be D's, wrapped in a white shirt, with a green jacket pulled over top. Something drives me to want to rip both layers off. "I have a lot to do before sunrise so…" She tells me then whistles loudly. Something comes gallivanting toward us, it just misses knocking me over. I yelp as a large black dog slides into a seated position at her feet. It's the fluffiest and biggest dog I've ever seen. I'm sure its eyes are easier to see during the day and his teeth aren't so prominently white.

"Nice dog," I say awkwardly and she laughs slightly.

"Nice mud covered sweatshirt," she says before wiping a splotch of mud off my shirt that I missed. "Sorry I scared you so bad. It teaches you not to trump through the woods in the middle of the night."

"The stories I could tell you about being in the woods at the middle of the night…" I shake my head. "I didn't learn then, I doubt I've learned now. I'm Stiles by the way."

"Oh you're the Stilinski boy aren't you? I met your dad."

"You met my dad? Already in the police station?" I joke with her.

"Your dad is my legal guardian while I'm staying here in Beacon Hills, only seventeen," she admits. "Oh, I'm Max and this is my pal Puca." The dog barks in agreement as Max takes my hand and shakes it. "You should work on your handshake, it says a lot about a man. It's basically your first impression."

"Ok, wait! I didn't know we were going to shake hands… _Max_. What kind of girl is named Max?" I say shaking her hand again harder.

"One who has a better handshake then most guys," she says gritting her teeth and squeezing my hand harder.

"Ow!" I yelp pulling my hand from her grip.

"And Max is a nickname. It comes from Maxine. But do not call me that." She yells poking me hard in the square of my chest.

"You are so violent," I grump crossing my arms over my now sore chest.

"You have to be if you want to walk around in the woods in the middle of the night," she shrugs and smirks. A loud crash in the distance reminds me where I am and what I'm doing.

"Damnit!" I yell scrambling away from Max up a slight hill. "Sorry I got to go!"

"No worries!" Max yells back. "See you at school Stilinski!" The dog barks in agreement again. When I look back both of them are gone. I breathe heavily for a moment running that interaction over in my head. We just met in the middle of the woods, in the middle of the night and talked for how long? I sprint toward the house now. I hear Scott and Derek duking it out from a mile away. I get up the stairs and barrel through the door to find them rolling around together teeth and claws flying.

"Hey! You just ditched me again!" I bark standing over them. "And why are we fighting!" I yell just as Scott knocks Derek across the room.

"Just practicing. Where were you?" Scott huffs.

"I got distracted in the woods," I shrug.

"Dead body?" Scott asks anxiously jumping up.

"He probably just scared himself," Derek growls straightening himself.

"You know I'm getting real sick of this guy," I growl back, much less imposing then Derek's.

"And I'm sick of you dragging this dead weight everywhere with you!" Derek yells addressing Scott.

"You guys wouldn't get anywhere without me! Who figured out how to get into the bank vault!" I yell as Derek crosses the room to me.

"You also figured out once we broke into the bank vault Boyd and my sister were going to kill us! Just a bit too late!" He gets right up in my face and I back up pulling Scott in front of me.

"You really should stop working out so much your arms might pop," I say angrily from behind Scott.

"Ok! Ok!" Scott yells over us. "Let's stop arguing about last night and let's argue about what we are going to do tonight!"

"How do we catch them?" Derek huffs crossing his unrealistically thick arms.

"The dead weight has a plan," I say raising my hand.

"You never told me what distracted you in the woods," Scott says locking up his bike.

"It was a girl," I say scanning the front of the school building.

"Was she uhh… Was she like-" he stammers gesturing to himself.

"No she wasn't like you," I scoff. "Well I mean she didn't give me that vibe…"

"That vibe?" Scott laughs slightly. "We have a vibe?" He shakes his body. I march away from him. "This girl has really got you in a tailspin, why? What did she do that was so weird?"

"Oh you mean besides the fact that she was walking her big black dog through the forest in the middle of the night and when asked what she was doing out in the woods she replied with 'research'. Other than that nothing much," I tell him as we walk into the building. My eyes instantly land on her and I plaster myself against the nearest wall dipping out of view.

"What? What?" Scott says frantically looking up and down the hall.

"She's over there…" I point and his eyes follow.

"Don't let her see you looking she's the type of person to march over here and ask you right out, what are you looking at bub?" I badly mimic her voice.

"I do not sound like that and I would never say _bub_," Max smiles sarcastically at me and Scott makes multiple facial expressions behind her. She's got on a sleeveless shirt that dips down her sides showing off a tan side and a sliver of her black bra. The words "Victoria Secret" repeat over and over in white. I force myself to move my eyes to her face.

"I wasn't… I mean it wasn't you that…" I try to save myself, but she doesn't give me a chance.

"Oh come on I know when someone is making fun of me," she squints at me before pushing past Scott and down the hall.

"Whoa," Scott says eyes wide. "What else do you know about her?"

"Just moved in apparently. And alone. She said my dad is her legal guardian while she's here," I pause realizing what I just said. "I should have asked him about it!"

"Yeah probably," Scott laughs slightly. "What's her name?"

"Max," I say tasting her name. Odd yet somehow perfect.

"What kind of name is Max?" He laughs as we walk into homeroom.

"What kind of name is Scott? Or Stiles? Or… Lydia! Hi! Hey! Hi!" My mind instantly switches when the red-headed girl steps into my view. She's got on a flowered dress and her hair is tucked into a braid that loops around her head. She is as unbelievable gorgeous as ever.

"Hi," she shrugs with that annoyed look of hers like she doesn't understand why I've said anything to her. That looks drives me crazy. I hate her and love her.

"Stiles, smooth with all the ladies," Scott laughs at me as he sits on his desk. Allison then walks in the room and he almost looses his seat.

"Scott, still not smooth with his one lady," I copy his tone and expression.

"Screw you," he mutters under his breath as he takes his seat.

"Screw you too," I smile as Ms. Henderson stalks in.

"Watch your mouth Stilinski," she points at me and I let my head hit my desk.


	2. Chapter 2

"You going to sit with Max? She's all alone at that lunch table pouring over some ratty old book," Scott says knocking his elbow into mine.

"Watch it, watch it! You almost spilled my pudding."

"That girl gives off a weird vibe," he says rubbing his chin.

"Not a wolf vibe though," I say shaking my head.

"No…" he says slowly.

"Oh thank God."

"Go find out what she's reading," he pushes me toward her and my pudding splashes out over the table. She looks up at me, over at the pudding then back down at her book. I sit down in the seat across from her and try to push the pudding away from me. She looks up at me again.

"I'll clean it up after-" she cuts me off.

"We both know you aren't going to clean it up, don't lie."

"Ok," my voice cracks and she laughs slightly. "So what ya reading?" She lifts the book so I can see the title. "Strange and Fantastical Happenings in Beacon Hills" I feel my airways constrict.

"Got it from the library," she smiles.

"Oh," I smile back.

"You really have the most charming smile," she says closing one eye.

"What sorry?"

"You're cute, I'm telling you you're cute."

"Oh!"

"You aren't good at talking during the day," she says returning her eyes to the book. I sigh; rub my face and neck before shooting a look at Scott who has his eyes locked on Max. His wolf senses are tingling. I turn back to her. She wraps a strand of slightly curling dirty blond hair around the knot at the back of her hair. It's messy, but in a clearly contained way. I admire her blue eyes skipping over the page. She reads like there is something she is desperate to know. She reads like if she doesn't take in every word there is no point in reading the book at all. Her slender hand plays with the corner of the page she is stuck on. I notice the nails are not covered in any cracking color like Lydia's. I take the time to study her clothing besides her bra. Her shirt is black and blank, but multiple necklaces dangle like a pattern. One pendant stands out, a tiny plant branch made of silver. I almost reach out and touch it, but stop myself. Pushing my hand down seems to force words from my mouth.

"You are so odd I don't know what to say to you. You make me nervous. I mean look at you, your narrow blue eyes that like shoot through me like you know exactly what's going on in my head! Out there in the woods that was weird! Why I just talked normal out there I don't know, but in here with my friend staring at us I just don't have any clue what to say to you!" I say quickly.

"Then you don't have to say anything," she shrugs.

"What?" I say and she looks up at me and closes her book.

"You seem like the person who is constantly saying things," she says.

"Well that's not… Uhh ok yes."

"I'm the type of person who doesn't say much at all. Sitting in silence might be odd for you, but it's natural for me. When you sit quietly you hear more, learn more, observe more. Just from sitting here I've learned she likes him, but he likes her and she likes the straight one of those two," she points around the room.

"One of the twins is gay?" I splutter.

"Yep and the girl you're in love with likes his straight brother," she smiles at me.

"Lydia? No, I'm not-" she looks at me sideways. "Ok I get it you can read through my lies."

"How long have you liked her?" she smiles letting her chin balance in her hand. I feel myself smile and blush and I try to force it down.

"A while, but that isn't what I came over here to talk to you about!" I point in between her eyes. Hiding my embarrassment with anger.

"Then what do you want Stiles?" When she says my name all my thoughts fall out of my head again.

"Uhh…"

"I like you Stiles. You know exactly what you want. The only thing standing in your way of getting everything you want is your mouth," she laughs again sticking her finger into my spilled pudding. "You have to teach it to help you get what you want." She lets her tongue take the pudding from her finger as she stands up. She nods and leaves me alone. Scott pulls out the chair by my side and claps me on the shoulder.

"Well?" He asks happily.

"She was reading Strange and Fantastical Happenings in Beacon Hills."

"That's all you learned?"

"She is also really good at seeing through my bluff. She'd beat me in poker," I sigh rubbing my face.

"You barely know how to play poker," Scott laughs leaning back in his chair. "Anyone would be beat you."

"You are really good at building my ego up," I whine letting my head meet the plastic tabletop.

"Don't worry about girls. We are giving them up remember! Just focus on catching Boyd and Cora. We are meeting at Derek's apartment at nine tonight," Scott says patting my back. "Oh and coach says short practice today, he wants us rested for the next game."

"How nice of him. I really need to rest after all the bench warming I've been doing," I moan not looking at Scott.

"Perk up Stiles I feel like things are turning around for us, after we catch Boyd and Cora and take out the Alphas it will be smooth sailing!" Scott says happily.

"This whole positive Scott thing is starting to get on my nerves," I say turning toward him.

"This negative Stiles thing is making me worried. Get up, get through the day then go home and ask your dad if there have been anymore killings, that will make you feel better."

"Right, death and killing always cheers me up," I smile sarcastically as the fourth period bell rings overhead.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to everyone who is reading, reviewing, following and favoriting. This chapter is much longer than the previous ones and that may happen sometimes. I like this chapter because it brings out a different side of Max, making her more realistic as a person. I hope you guys like it too! As always I only own Max, not the other amazing characters!**

"I'm home!" I yell as I push open the front door. I catch the time on the clock it's already 6. Had it been a long practice I may not have gotten home until 8. I sling my backpack up on the coat rack not to be touched until Sunday night.

"I'm in the kitchen," dad yells back. I stagger in to find him with papers spread thick across our kitchen table.

"You got a case?" I ask excitedly realizing death and killing really does cheer me up. I try to tone down my excitement by sticking my head far into the fridge. "You want something?"

"Yeah. Can you grab me a coke?" dad says rubbing his lined face. I silently pray that this case doesn't make him as exhausted as the last one.

"What's this one?" I say sitting down next to him. He takes the coke and throws some back before handing me a photo. "Oh lord-" I splutter closing my eyes. An unrecognizable human has had its flesh ripped off the front of its body. It's clearly been eaten, but I know it wasn't by a werewolf and not the Kanima. Maybe Derek or Peter would know.

"Pretty messed up," dad sighs rubbing his face like me. "I thought the deaths had stopped…"

"But dad this isn't like the other deaths!" I tell him pushing through the other reports on the table. I find pictures of the other dead bodies and compare the black and white photos. "Two different people committed these crimes!"

"Yeah, ok Stiles," he says pulling the pictures away from me. "I appreciate you wanting to help, but I don't really want you looking at this stuff."

"You know I can help you!" I tell him trying to take the photos back. He holds tight on them and moves them into a stack.

"We don't need your help, just hope that this is a one time thing," he says looking me square in the eye. He takes the stack into the next room and hides them from me on the top shelf under mom's good china serving bowl. I lean back in my chair throwing back my own can of coke. "How was school?" he asks slightly more cheerily when he comes back into the room.

"Fine," I nod my head reliving the day, Max and her Victoria Secret bra cross my mind. "Oh! Dad!" I shout pushing the can of soda away from me. "Do you know a girl named Max?"

"You mean Maxine Discite?" he asks as he tries to scratch his back.

"Yeah, I mean I think so, her name is Maxine," I say quickly.

"There aren't too many people named Maxine, so let's assume they are the same person," dad laughs slightly as he lets the doorway scratch his back for him.

"Right, ok well, she said you're her guardian or something?"

"Yep, she got permission from her Social Worker to move out here when her grandfather passed," dad says nodding. "She's had one heck of a life." He pauses looking down at me. "Her parents died and she moved in with an uncle. I guess he abused her or something so she moved in with her grandfather, but he past a month or so ago. She's sort of odd, but I understand why."

"Jesus Christ…" I sigh.

"Come on I told you not to say that," dad frowns at me.

"It's not doing any harm!" I argue.

"You never know when-" the doorbell interrupts his argument.

"I'll get it!" I yell jumping out of my chair, but he's already at the door.

"Hi Mr. Stilinski," Max smiles sweetly on our doorstep.

"Oh Max! Hi!" dad smiles both of them look over at me and I stop myself from staring. I wave slightly. "Ignore him, he's socially awkward," dad says and Max laughs slightly.

"Yeah great, give her another reason to think I'm weird," I say moving over to the open door.

"All the best people are weird," she shakes her head making a silver ring at the top of her ear catch the porch light.

"I see you two have met," dad raises his eyebrows.

"Yes dad," I moan and Max nods.

"Oh sorry Max, didn't mean to make you stand out on the porch, why not come on in?" dad says courteously pulling the door open further.

"No, that's ok I just stopped by to have you sign these papers, I need them for school," she lets a leather strapped backpack fall from her shoulder. It's locked up with two big metal buckles, which she easily undoes. She's too far for me to see what she carries around with her. "Just sign at the bottom," she says passing dad a stack of papers.

"Let me get a pen," dad smiles and turns back into the house. She smirks at me as I try to look cool resting my arm in the doorway.

"Will I always see this much of you?" I say trying to flirt.

"Only if you keep following me," she replies quickly.

"Wait, what? I'm not following you!" I snap letting my arm drop from its perch. She nods her head. "No I'm not!"

"You sat with me at lunch," she tilts her head sideways like she's trying to make the accusation less harsh.

"Yeah, but you're at my doorstep! And, and you came over to me in the hallway this morning!" I yell.

"You were making fun of me this morning! And I came here for your dad, not you," she crosses her arms and pouts her bottom lip.

"Hey what's with the yelling?" dad says pushing me out-of-the-way to sign the sheets of multicolored paper. "That ought to do it Max," dad smiles again.

"You have as charming smile as Stiles, sheriff," Max says before stepping backward off the porch. "Thank you for signing." She says as she puts the papers back into the bag. "I have a ways to walk so I'll be going."

"Wait!" Dad cries pulling me into the doorway by my shoulder. "Stiles can drive you home."

"Actually I have a thing-" I try to get out of it, but he forces me in.

"Actually I bought you the car so you have to do what I say with it," dad growls. Max laughs slightly before shaking her head and commenting.

"No, no it's fine. He probably doesn't want Puca in the car," she says as her big black dog comes bounding around the side of our house.

"Sure he does. Stiles loves dogs. Its dark, I don't want you walking all the way home," dad pushes me out the door and slams it behind me. Dammit. I needed to photocopy that picture before I left.

"You really don't have to drive me," she says stepping backward.

"No, come on I'm already out here," I sigh motioning to the jeep. She lets Puca get in first before sliding into the passenger's seat. "Where do you live?" I ask revving the engine.

"North end," she says quickly.

"What? That's like an hour-long walk!" I look at her from around the black mess of fur.

"35-40 minutes," she nods.

"Alright buckle up," I say before turning out into the road. I'm thankful Puca is between us so she can't stare at me. I like the idea of being able to look at her, but the thought of her studying me makes my hair stand on end. We ride with the rumbling of the jeep as our music; most girls go right for my stereo. Well most girls meaning the three I've had in my car. My phone's loud buzzing scares me to the point that I almost swerve off the road. She snatches it from the cup holder before I've got the jeep under control.

"That scared you," she laughs.

"Don't answer the-"

"Hello, Stiles' phone, Max speaking…" she says ignoring the few words I got out. I rub my face as I strain my neck to see her around Puca.

"Lydia?" she says raising her eyebrows looking over at me. Just the sound of her name gets me buzzing. I shake my head and mouth the words hang up! "You need him now?" she pauses and now I want to know what Lydia wants. "Ok, we'll be there soon. Ok great, bye!" she smiles and then hangs up.

"Am I going to Lydia's house?" I ask her frantically.

"I don't know," she shrugs. "I didn't ask her for directions, I assumed you'd know," she says her brow crinkling with confusion.

"No, I mean should I turn to go to her house?" I ask again not bothering to make a sarcastic comment.

"I think that's up to you considering you're driving. She did say she needed your help urgently," she shrugs as I take the sharp right into Lydia's cul-de-sac. We stop in front of the big house and she jumps right out with Puca on her heel.

"Wait, wait!" I say slamming my door shut. "This shouldn't take long, you guys should wait in the car," I say coming around to the front of the car to meet them.

"We aren't staying in the car, take us home first if you don't want us to come in," she says putting her hands on her hips like that action is the period to her sentence. Puca sits next to the car, tongue and tail wagging.

"Fine, but Puca stays out here." She pats the dog on the head and it lies down. "Ok, come on," I gesture toward the door which Lydia opens as we approach. Her strawberry blonde hair perfectly surrounds her round, flawless face. I'm not sure if she is naturally this gorgeous or if she's just amazing with makeup. She's got on a blue floral dress that cinches in at the waist thanks to a thick braided belt. My mind jumps to her fingernails remembering Max's bare ones. Sure enough robin egg blue polish covers every one of her nails.

"Who is that?" Lydia asks me her green eyes hiding under her furrowed brow. I look to my right and open my mouth to introduce Max, but she beats me to it.

"I'm Max? The one who answered the phone?" Max looks annoyed; I turn back to Lydia who is equally as annoyed.

"Oh," Lydia says quickly turning to me.

"I'm right here... Why not ask me who I am?" Max grumps under her breath.

"Whatcha need help with?" I say rubbing the back of my neck embarrassed to have brought a girl to Lydia's house.

"I'm supposed to clean the pool. Jackson used to help me with it. Can you do it?" She asks quickly. Before I can answer she turns back into her house and I'm following her.

"Seriously?" Max asks grabbing my arm so I can see her face. She looks pissed, but also like she may laugh.

"Yeah," I say quietly making my way through Lydia's mess of expensive furniture. "She's my friend I'm going to help her when she asks."

"She's using you!" Max exclaims in a hushed tone. "How can you not…" She waves her arms around pushing her hands into her face.

"No she isn't!" I yell whisper back.

"Here's the pool," Lydia says pulling back the glass door. I step out, Max following after me. The pool is a long rectangle that is being illuminated by a single bulb under the diving board. At the surface there are clumps of swimming leaves casting shadows on the cement bottom. "Once you finish you can come tell me. I'll be in the kitchen." She gives us a half-hearted smile and then closes the slider.

"What a bitch!" Max yells at the glass door.

"Shut up! She can probably hear you!" I yell trying to cover her mouth.

"If she can she'd have turned around when I yelled bitch," Max spits pushing my arms away from her.

"She's just a little pampered," I try to argue for Lydia who I know is a good person deep down.

"She's a full-out brat," Max rolls her eyes. "Forget this and take me home."

"No," I furrow my brow.

"I have homework to-"

"It was your first day at a new school for crying out loud, close your trap and don't lie to me."

"Hey, hey," she smiles now. "You have already learned to call my bluff. Dammit. Now you can beat me in poker."

"I literally said the same thing about you today to Scott," I laugh slightly.

"Scott is the dark-haired kid you were hanging out with I assume?"

"Right, yeah. He's my best friend," I nod feeling like a dumb kid for using the word best friend. What a little girl's word.

"Cute," she says still smiling, but now looking up in the sky. Cute, great. Another little girl word. "How well would you say you know Scott?" she asks excitedly stepping over to me.

"Uhh…" I'm not sure what to say.

"Do you know his deepest secret? Can you keep his secret?"

"Actually yes I do know his secret. I can keep his secret, but so far he's had trouble keeping it," I laugh slightly thinking about the growing number of people who know that Scott is a werewolf.

"You seem very trustworthy to me," she nods her head then sits down by the side of the pool. I watch her slip off her sneakers and socks before watching her feet dip down into the illuminated water. She turns back to me, but I don't move to try to hide the fact that I am watching her. "So are you going to clean the pool or what?"

"Oh, yeah," I say uneasily.

"You have no idea how to clean a pool, do you?" she says kicking her feet in the water. Her soles cast long, shivering, black shadows at the bottom of the pool. I want to dive into the water and try to catch the shadows. They are so dark that they look like they could be scooped up and put into my pocket.

"No," I admit after a pause.

"Get that pole," she points to a long, blue metallic pole on the other side of the pool. I circle around to pick it up. "It has a net on the end, you can use it to scoop up these leaves." Once I get my hands around it I carefully swing the net over the pool. I watch the net slowly sink into the water before looking up just in time to catch a glimpse of the front view of that Victoria Secret bra and a pair of pink and white panties. She gives me a crazed smile and before I can shout no, she's in the pool. She dives gracefully and glides easily through the water. Her hair ripples out of its bun and floats wildly around her. She seems like a dream, so distant yet magnified by the glowing water. Again I have the urge to dive in, but the thought of Lydia coming out stops me. She swims in circles and floats on her back as I fish for leaves around her.

"Do you often do Lydia favors?" she asks swimming up to the edge closest to me. She lets her arms emerge from the water making a wet stain spill out onto the cement deck.

"Sometimes. I do her favors sometimes," I tell her.

"Does she do favors for you?" she asks ringing out her hair now two shades darker.

"Uhh… Well…"

"If you do things for people without them doing things in return people will take advantage of you," she pulls herself up out of the pool just as I manage to catch the last floating leaf.

"Then I expect you to do something in return for driving you home," I say not looking at her. Knowing I need to prepare myself a little longer before looking at her all wet.

"I already did," she laughs slightly. "Told you how to clean a pool didn't I?"

"That doesn't count," I say turning to her already forgetting that I had stopped myself from looking up for a reason. Her bra dips leaving little for my imagination. I close my eyes trying to push away the pleas for her to turn around. I want to see her underwear stuck to her skin; I want to see it cut up slightly letting me see part of her cheeks or better yet the whole ass.

"The sight of me in my underwear that bad?" she laughs again slightly.

"No, no!" I yell opening my eyes.

"I'm just messing with you," she says punching me in the arm as she passes me heading back to the chair where she left her clothes.

"You just-"

"Shut up!" she yells and I turn to look at her again. Every muscle in her body has tensed. I follow her gaze to a back gate, which is slowly opening. A shadowy figure appears and I instinctively put myself between Max and the figure.

"Who's there?" I yell as light from the house casts over Peter Hale.

"Hello Stiles," he says in that melodic tone of his.

"What do you want Peter?" I growl knowing he has a strange connection to Lydia. I thought after she brought him back to life their tie would be cut.

"Peter?" Max asks in a confused tone. "Peter Hale?" Peter squints at Max who is now pushing me out-of-the-way.

"Maxine Discite?" Peter smiles as he gets a better look at the almost naked girl. That creep doesn't deserve to see her like this. "What are you doing here!"

"I just moved here!" she says excitedly. "I would hug you, but I'm kind of wet."

"I can see that," he laughs in that slinky tone and I pull Max behind me again, shielding her from his eyes.

"Ok, ok, what do you want and how do you know each other?" I demand. Max wriggles out of my grip before Peter answers.

"I knew her parents, I met her when she was much younger. I'm surprised you remember me," Peter smiles, but it isn't a warm smile like Max's, its cold and sneaky and distant and I just want him to turn back around and go back where he came from.

"I was nine! Of course I remember you. You and Derek too!" Max smiles broadly.

"What?" I yell. "You know Derek too?"

"Yeah, you know him?" she smiles.

"Unfortunately, yes," I sigh. "I have to go to his place after I drop you off."

"I want to go see Derek! I bet he's really different from the last time I saw him!" she says giddily.

"You've changed quite a bit and considering he's 23 now and the last time you saw him was when you were nine I can assure you he's quite different. Still moody though," Peter says sarcastically.

"Can I come with you Stiles?" Max asks almost grabbing my arm, but she stops herself like she is just noticing that she is soaking wet.

"I don't know…" I start then Peter helps me make up my mind.

"Well you can come with me if-" I cut him off.

"Yes, yeah you can come with me," I say quickly and she laughs at me slightly.

"I need a towel… And a hairbrush," Max declares before walking over to the glass door. She wraps on it twice before Lydia appears in the doorway. She looks angrily down at Max who smiles up at her.

"What?" Lydia huffs.

"I need a towel and a hairbrush," Max informs Lydia.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Lydia smarts off.

"Considering Stiles and I just did you a _favor_ by cleaning your pool I thought you could do me a _favor_ by letting me barrow a towel and hairbrush," Max says through her smiling teeth. I'm appalled that anyone would have the nerve to talk to Lydia like that, but Peter seems entertained.

"Fine," Lydia says before slamming the slider shut.

"I hate this girl," Max looks over at me brow furrowed. "How are you in love with her? And why are you sneaking into her backyard?"

"She's clearly having an off day. Usually she's really lovely. She's very popular around town and many people come visit her, which is what Peter is doing. Visiting," I explain before Peter can say anything. Peter smirks at us as he rubs his chin. Before Max can call my bluff Lydia is opening the slider again.

"Here," Lydia says handing Max a bright pink towel and hairbrush to match.

"Yeah thanks," Max says halfheartedly as she wraps herself up.

"Thanks for cleaning the pool Stiles. Hi Peter," Lydia says not stepping out of her doorway. "Did you need something?"

"I was coming to check up on you, everything ok?" Peter asks.

"Fine now, thank you," Lydia nods. Max watches Lydia like some strange and potentially poisonous snake. "Leave the towel and the brush on the chair. I'll get them later. I'm tired now. Goodnight everyone." She closes the slider again and that slight part of me that hopes things will change between us is crushed again.

"Anytime…" I sigh.

"The water was warm, but now I'm cold!" Max says through chattering teeth. She has managed to get her clothes back on, but she is shivering. "Let's go, into the car! Into the warmth!"

"Ok," I say pulling myself away from the glass slider. "I'm ready."

"I'll see you at Derek's?" Peter asks.

"Yes," Max laughs slightly. "I'm sure you'll beat us." Peter smiles and nods before walking back out of the gate. My brow furrows what could she mean by that? Yes, I knew he would beat us too. But that's because I know he's a werewolf…

"Stiles," Max chatters pulling me from my thoughts. "Can I have your sweatshirt?"

"Oh yeah," I say shrugging out of the thin navy sweatshirt.

"Thank you!" she smiles pulling it around her as we head back to the car. "It smells like you," she says inhaling deeply.

"Yeah I know," I say pulling open my door. She lets Puca get in first again. "Question is why are you smelling it? Smells like lacrosse sweat. Smells bad. I wouldn't have worn it had I known I was going to be seeing you and Lydia."

"I don't mind the smell. It's your real smell. It's the truth. The truth is always good," she says inhaling again. "And it's warm. Hey wait you'd have worn something different if you knew you were going to see me?"

"I mean… I meant see people that I needed to make…" I stop myself from causing anymore embarrassment. "You shouldn't have gotten in the water," I tell her as we turn out onto a main road. "It made you cold and it ticked Lydia off."

"Two good reasons to get into the pool!" She yells as she wraps her arms around Puca. "Puca warm me!"

"Why did you choose to move to Beacon Hills?" I ask suddenly. I wasn't expecting that to jump from my lips, I can only guess she wasn't expecting it either.

"Following my research," she smiles at me, her lips barely visible over the thick black fur coat.

"Yeah you said you were out in the woods last night doing research," I say looking sideways at her.

"Yeah I was," she nods.

"Ok, on what?"

"I'm not sure I can tell you yet," she says with a soft face. She's lost her flirty, vindictive tone.

"It's a secret?" I ask.

"It's a secret," she nods.

"Can I ask about your bag then?" I ask.

"What about it?"

"What's with the big metal buckles? Why not just use a zipper?"

"They're iron," she says like that should be explanation enough.

"Yeah… so…" I say as I pull up to the curb in front of Derek's apartment.

"Keeps pixies from getting in and messing with my stuff," she says with a serious face, but it breaks into a smile as we exit the car.

"Haha, very funny," I roll my eyes.

"Stay here Puca," she commands before closing the door.

"He's on the third floor," I nod toward the building. "We won't stay long."

"Whatever you say boss," she nods as we enter the building. I hit the elevator button and get ready to wait for the doors to open. There is a loud metallic crunch behind me as Max pushes open the door to the stairs.

"I hate stairs," I inform her.

"I hate elevators," she informs me. "Beat you up there," she sings as the door crashes closed behind her. I tap my foot for a minute, but no doors open so I crash through the blue door with the word stairs on it behind me. I run up the stairs taking them two by two.

"I'm winning!" I hear far above me.

"You got a head start!" I bark willing my legs to go faster.

"Doesn't matter!" she says before I hear the crashing of a metal door opening. I reach the third floor landing just as the door closes behind her. I push it open to find her leaning against the wall. She winks at me when the door is fully extended.

"Looks like you lose!" I yell flying down the hallway to the last door on the right. "Haha! I got here first you big loser!"

"Oh shut up Stilinski," Max growls as she reaches my side. I wrap on the door with my eyes still locked on her. I stick my tongue out at her and she copies.

"What are you doing?" Derek's low rumbly voice makes my tongue suck back into my head.

"Hi Derek, good to see you like always," his dark eyes shift from me to Max. She's smirking, probably because she knows who Derek is, but it looks like Derek has no idea who she is.

"Peter said you were bringing an old friend of mine with you?" Derek's brow furrows.

"Yeah. I did," I point at Max and his dark eyes move back to her.

"Hi Derek," her flirty, vindictive voice has returned.

Wait," Derek squints like Peter. "Maxine?"

"Just Max now," she nods then pushes past him into the fairly empty apartment. "Wow nice place."

"Maxine Discite!" Derek yells grabbing her shoulders and spinning her around to face him. "Holy God!"

"You look different too Derek Hale!" She yells matching his decibel level. I slink past the two over to Scott and Isaac who must have been looking at the paper covered table, but are now watching Derek and Max.

"Oh my god! What are you doing here!" Derek looks down at Max, but then shifts his gaze to his Uncle perched on the spiral staircase across the room. "Peter? You knew she was coming to Beacon Hills?" Derek asks letting Max go so he can see his Uncle.

"No," Max shakes her head. "We just ran into each other."

"She was swimming in Lydia's pool in nothing, but her undergarments," Peter informs the room.

"That's why my hair is wet," Max says turning her head upside down so her hair flips water droplets across the floor.

"How do you guys know Max?" Scott asks looking between Derek and Peter.

"Family friends," Peter says.

"Last time I saw you, I was fifteen! And you were only-" Max cuts Derek off.

"Nine," she says flipping her head into it's original position. "Sorry to be rude," Max says walking over to the table Scott, Isaac and I are all behind. "I'm Max, you're Scott, I know that," she says taking and shaking Scott's hand.

"Right, good to meet you," Scott says uneasily.

"Maybe tomorrow you can sit with me at lunch too and not just force Stiles too," she smiles sweetly and drops his hand. Scott looks surprised and clearly isn't sure what to say. I laugh slightly.

"I'm Isaac," the tall boy with dark golden curls covering his head nods as he takes Max's hand to shake.

"Oh I like you," Max smiles. "Pretty and well-mannered. All of you are pretty actually, have you noticed that?" We all look around at each other, but no one says anything.

"You are just like your mother," Peter says finally breaking the awkwardness. "You both say exactly what's going through your mind." Max gives a quick forced smile.

"I need to use the restroom," she declares and Derek points to a door. She nods and disappears inside.

"She screams sexual tension doesn't she?" Peter says standing up from his seat on the stairs.

"Ok that's creepy you're like a thousand years old!" I yell.

"She is quite the looker," Derek says looking back at the closed-door.

"It's creepy for you to say it too! You're like ten years older than us!" I yell again slamming my fists into the table.

"Don't worry I'm not going to steal your girlfriend," Derek growls.

"No she isn't-" Scott cuts me off.

"He loves Lydia, remember?"

"Right," I nod, then look angrily over at Scott. "Ok no, I don't love her-" Isaac breaks in this time.

"Yes you do, everyone knows, even Lydia," Isaac says crossing his arms.

"We don't know about-" Peter cuts me off this time.

"Why were you in Lydia's backyard tonight?" he asks me.

"I was… It was a favor!"

"You can't always do the girl favors! She's taking advantage of the fact that you are completely and madly in love with her!" Isaac yells.

"That's what I said!" Max yells from behind the closed-door.

"She could hear you talking about her…" Scott says in a lower tone.

"Yes I could!" Max yells again. We hear the faucet run then she emerges from behind the slim door. "Well it was great to see you Derek and Peter, and meet you Scott and Isaac, but I better get going."

"I'll take you," I say moving toward the door.

"I'm right down the road, but if you could come unlock your doors so I can get Puca out that would be great," she says pulling open the door.

"Yeah sure," I say following her into the hallway.

"Wait," Derek says following after us. "What are you here to study?"

"I'll tell you if I find it," she smiles.

"And that Puca is still hanging around you?" he asks.

"Oh yeah, I think he's more interested in being fed three meals a day then bothering me anymore," she says as we walk backward toward the staircase.

"It must be helpful to have him around for your work. That part of the book is probably very thorough," Derek says smiling. That might be the first time I've ever seen him smile. "I'd love to see him."

"I'll bring him over sometime! Call me if anything weird happens!" She yells just as the metal door closes. We walk down the stairs in silence, I want to ask her so many questions, but what can I ask that won't freak her out? We reach the car and I hit the unlock button. She pulls the driver's side open and Puca comes flying out.

"Well," I nod and she nods back. "See you-" she cuts me off.

"Be careful, ok?" she says so quickly I almost miss it.

"Ok?" I say my brow furrowing. "Can I walk you home?"

"No," she snaps. "Sorry, no." She shakes her head.

"Are you mad at me for something?" I ask truly confused.

"No, no," she shakes her head again. "I still have your sweatshirt on, here," she says starting to slide out of it.

"Keep it," I tell her. "Otherwise you'll be cold on the walk home."

"Oh God," she smacks herself in the face. "Why do you have to be so cute and sweet?" She makes a loud "Arg!" sound before turning away from me.

"Bye?" I yell at her. All she does is throw up a hand, what a lack luster wave.


	4. Chapter 4

**This one is shorter than the last one, but it's important and kind of funny. I just watched episode three of Teen Wolf last night and it inspired me to try harder to illustrate the true essence of Stiles. Hopefully this grabs him more. Thank you again to everyone reading, favoriting, following and reviewing! As always I only own Max. Hope you all enjoy!**

"So you're sure you have no idea what kind of monster thing would eat just the skin off someone?" I ask looking at Peter who is tying his shoe, almost invisible among the brown leaf floor.

"I have no idea Stiles," he says again, more angrily this time.

"Let it go and pull up the whistle," Scott says clapping me on the back.

"This isn't going to work," Derek growls.

"That kind of negativity has no place in my workspace," I say over the smashing of computer keys. The screen flashes in front of me as I work furiously to pull up the dog whistle.

"It might work," Scott says uneasily.

"Oh come on," I say looking back at him. "Even you are doubting me?"

"It's a rough day in Stiles-land when even Scott thinks his plans are so-so," Isaac jokes as I return to the computer monitor.

"Just go make your ridiculous wolf powers useful and move the speakers!" I demand. The three of them march over to my jeep. "You too Peter." I say knowing he didn't move.

"Where do we put them?" Scott huffs as he lowers his speaker to the leaf covered forest floor.

"One facing north, one facing south, one east and one west. I'll trust you to figure out, which way is which," I command as the screen finally says the sound is ready to be played. I turn to watch the guys adjust the speakers. If someone was to come upon this scene I don't know what they would think of us. Five guys out in the woods at ten at night, with four giant speakers and a computer, not weird at all, right? I grab up the cords to the speakers once the guys seem satisfied with their directions. I quickly plug them into the computer.

"Ok," I say turning back to the four of them. Scott and Derek are still in top physical fighting condition, but Isaac is still recovering from his alpha run in and Peter still complains he needs more time to recover from being dead. Both Isaac and Peter have to get better fast because we need at least two werewolves per body to hold down Boyd and Cora. "Scott, you and Isaac work together to contain Boyd. Derek and Peter you hold down Cora. I have a pair of cuffs for each of them. Once they are pinned I will put on the cuffs."

"Cuffs aren't going to hold them," Derek says coldly.

"Wolfs bane laced ones will," I smile pulling out the cuffs. I let them dangle on one finger.

"How did you get those?" Scott asks slightly disgusted.

"My dad's cuffs, Peter's wolfs bane," I shrug. The werewolves all turn to Peter who shrugs too. "Ok, ok," I say shoving the cuffs back into my pocket. "I brought earplugs for each of you. Hopefully this will block the dog whistle at least a bit from your ears. Do we all know what we are doing?" I ask, but only Scott nods.

"Wait," Peter says stepping out of the line they had formed. "I'm not fighting. I'm in no condition to fight."

"Unless you have a substitute werewolf, you are sure as hell fighting," I tell him. He purses his lips like he wants to say something, but instead he silently backs into the werewolf line.

"It's not going to work," Derek says again crossing his arms.

"Alright, I'm feeling underappreciated right now!" I yell.

"Just hit the play button," Scott whines as the guys in front of me stick gummy orange bits into their ears.

"Fine," I huff as I push enter. I watch their faces to see if the system is playing. I know from messing with it at home that I can't hear the whistle. All of them freeze up, then their pupils dilate, before each of them transform. Isaac jumps up and down excitedly, Scott runs in figure eights through the trees, Derek starts to do foot fire while Peter gets on his back and starts to roll. It wasn't what I was expecting to happen, but at least it means sound is playing and it's inaudible to humans. I don't know what it will do to their fighting abilities though. From behind me I hear a crashing of heavy footsteps. Suddenly my mind starts to race, Boyd and Cora aren't the only werewolves out here, and this is a dog whistle.

A pack of dogs and half humans comes barreling towards us out of the trees. Great Danes, schnauzers, corgis, pugs, Neapolitan mastiffs, boxers, and alpha werewolves all suddenly appear.

"Oh my God!" I scream jumping onto the hood of the jeep narrowly avoiding the canine wave. Dogs and werewolves alike slam into the sides of my jeep as they scramble to get close to the source of the sound. All of them have their tongues lapping and their tails wagging. The alphas, like the dogs run wildly toward Scott, Isaac, Derek and Peter, but they don't fight. They all group together with the dogs happily yelping and howling up at the starry sky. It was a sight to behold. The forest floor was now thick with fur and claws, not leaves and fallen trees. And dogs keep coming!

"Hey!" I yell toward Scott and the others. They continue to yelp and claw and play like puppies. "Snap out of it you fools!" Finally I see Boyd, quickly followed by Cora. "Look! Look!" I shout, but it's like I'm not even here. "Come on you guys there they are!" Boyd and Cora quickly fall in line with the other dog creatures yelping at the moon. "What do I do!" I yell at the sky. "I never thought I'd fear for my life because of some puppies!" My mind races, puppies won't hurt me. Maybe baby werewolves won't either. I put a hand out rubbing one of the collies on the head. It isn't even aware of me touching it. It goes on yelping. I watch everyone for a minute, even with their glowing eyes, fuzzy faces and bared teeth, I no longer feel like these wolves could hurt me. Finally I feel as though no danger will come to me and I force myself off the hood of the jeep. I push through the dogs to reach Boyd and Cora. "Sorry, 'scuze me," I say as I easily cuff them and pull them toward my jeep. They don't wail at the pain of the cuffs, but I can see it's already making them bleed. I get them into the back of the jeep slamming the door closed after them. I can't help, but smile. So much for a dead weight. Next I head over to Scott and Isaac passing the twin werewolf. It's three times bigger than any of my werewolves.

"You may be bigger," I say patting the tongue wagging giant humanoid dog on the head. "But I've got more," I snicker. Then think about how that may sound out of context. I grab Scott and Isaac by the collars of their shirts pulling them toward the car. I lock them in too and go back for Derek and Peter. Once I have all my werewolves packed away I think about what options I have. I have to turn off the speakers somehow, but I do not want to be on computer island surrounded by fuzzy waves when all the alphas and dogs break from their hypnosis.

"Oh Lordy," I sigh. "Dad is going to be pissed." I hop into the driver's seat and look backward over the jumping pups. I put the jeep into reverse and floor it. My back wheels miss a few fleeing dogs before smashing the computer. I switch back to drive and peel out of the forest, as the yelp of the pups in the back seat become confused moans and horrific wails.

"Wha-" I hear Peter moan as forest leaves become black top.

"Where are we?" Scott seems to have trouble putting the words together to form a sentence. He looks over at me as he tries to push confused Isaac off of him.

"Well it worked Derek!" I yell triumphantly turning my head backward to see the dark-haired man rubbing and then re-rubbing his eyes.

"Won't matter if you kill us!" he says jolting awake. I turn back to the road just in time to avoid an on coming truck. Cora screams in the very back of the jeep. It's pained and angry.

"You got them?" Isaac asks greedily shifting in his shared passenger's seat to try to view the thick boy and thin girl crumpled in my trunk space.

"It pays to be human sometimes," I shrug.

"But where is your computer?" Isaac asks, again looking into the back of the jeep.

"And my speakers?" Peter growls.

"All of it is back there in the woods…" I wince.

"You just left them!" Peter yells burying his face in his hands.

"I couldn't lift them! At least your speakers are still in one piece! I had to smash my computer!" I yell over Boyd and Cora still whimpering in pain.

"How did you get these two in here all by yourself?" Scott asks his face matching his tone of shock and confusion.

"And why do I feel like I've been given a glass of roofies and have yet had time to sleep them off?" Peter groans.

"And why smash your computer?" Isaac asks.

"Your dad is going to kill-" I cut Scott off.

"I know!" I yell again. "The drugged feeling must be the effects of the weird hypnosis you guys were under," I say frustrated. "You should have seen it! I should have filmed it! You guys, every werewolf and every dog in Beacon Hills collected around those speakers and started acting like puppies! You were yelping and howling and rolling and chasing-"

"Every werewolf?" Derek cuts me off.

"Yeah. Even the alphas!"

"And you could interact with us without getting killed?" Peter asks.

"Uhh yeah, you were in a completely drugged state of-" Derek cuts me off again.

"You could have killed the alphas…"

"What? Well uhh… Yeah I guess so…" I say thinking back on the experience.

"You could have killed the alphas!" Derek screeches over Boyd and Cora's moans as his claws dig into my seat inches from my head and neck. I swerve the car out of sheer shock and terror.

"What is wrong with you!" I scream. "Killing isn't exactly the first thing on my mind unlike you crazy son of a-" he's claws inch closer and I swerve again causing someone to lay into their horn behind us.

"Derek stop!" Scott yells trying to pull the alpha's claws from the driver's seat. "You could have killed us!" Scott yells as I pull the jeep under control again.

"No," Derek says pulling his claws back into his body. "All of us would have walked away and been healed in a few hours. Stiles would have been the only one who died." Just then someone or something in all white dashes across the road and again my car swerves at the last second. This time I lose control and we fishtail across the road. I manage press the brakes at the very last second.

"What the hell was that?" Isaac yells as we all strain to see what the hell had run past our window.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, so one of you requested longer chapters. I'll try to keep each one above 3,000 words. I try to split them up when I change scenes to keep it clear, but I'll work it out. If anyone else has any requests feel free to PM me or put it into your review. Thank you again for reading, reviewing, favoriting and following. I know my writing is a bit different with so much dialogue, but hopefully you all like that. I try to show the characters through their words instead of with descriptions. I do not own anything Teen Wolf related, I only own Max and the storyline. Enjoy!**

I watched the afternoon sun on my ceiling fade away as the moon rose outside. How long had I been laying here? Words and images kept me busy for hours. I thought back to the first night. What if Scott hadn't come with me into the woods that night? What if I went alone? What if I were bitten instead of Scott? I seriously doubt Derek would like me any better… But maybe I wouldn't be so scrawny. Maybe I would have bulked up like Scott… I let my head turn sideways catching sight of myself in the mirror above the desk that once supported my computer. My pale face, big eyes and sticking up hair come into view. I push the hair back, but it only makes it worse. I groan before rolling onto my other side.

I should have killed the alphas. How did that not even cross my mind? I am sick of being the screw up of the group. I want them to value me as an asset not a disability. I think back to the night I could have taken the bite, I could have become one of them! Would my life be easier or just as hectic? Or maybe I should have just crashed the car. Let the werewolves walk away and dispose of the stupid human. I squeeze my eyes tight just as my door creaks open.

"You've been in here all day," dad says. I don't turn to him.

"I know," I say rolling my eyes, but he doesn't see.

"You sick?" he says and I roll my eyes again. He wasn't the gentlest man, not like mom was. I squeeze my eyes closed again trying to dispel the image of her.

"No, just tired," I fake a yawn.

"I made dinner," he says.

"Not hungry."

"It'll be in the fridge if you want it," he says then lets the door close again. I feel lonely and detached from all of my friends, is what I want to tell dad. Sure we share the secret, Scott and I, but really it's his. The only reason I know Derek, Peter and Isaac is because of Scott's secret, in my mind that means they are more Scott's friends then mine. The one person I have in my life, that isn't Scott's, is Lydia and I'm not sure if Lydia even thinks of me as a friend! Maybe Max was right; I do too much for others and never expect anything from them. Wait! I shoot up in my bed. I have Max. Suddenly I'm on my feet moving toward the door and down the stairs.

"Changed your mind?" dad calls from the kitchen his mouth full of the chicken thick on the air.

"Yeah," I call back shuffling through the coat rack looking for my sweatshirt. "But not about dinner." I think hard on the last place I saw my sweatshirt, kitchen, living room, school, car, Max. "I'll be back later!" I yell as I push open the front door and rush toward my car.

"Alrighty," I catch my dad call back as the door swings shut. The moment I get in the car my phone rings.

"Hello?" I answer as I start to back up onto the quiet, darkening street.

"Hey," Scott's voice vibrates through the phone.

"Oh hey," I say back.

"Are you doing ok? Your dad called me, said you were in bed all day," Scott says anxiously, but I can also hear a hint of embarrassment.

"Did he really? Jesus Christ. Sorry, no I'm fine. I'm in the car right now," I tell him shaking my head. "I admit Derek's comment the other night had me a little shaken up, but I'm totally fine."

"The one about you um…" he doesn't or can't say dying.

"Yeah," I don't want to say it either.

"Right… Well if you want to come over I was going to tuck into my savings and get a few classic monster movies. You could come watch. Keep my mind off you know who..." Scott says changing the subject and mood.

"No, uhh actually I'm going to see a different friend…" I stumble over what to say. I don't want to tell him it's Max because I don't know if I'll actually get to see her. "And I doubt watching movies about things your girlfriend kills for sport is going to make you forget her!" I yell into the receiver.

"She gave it up, remember?"

"Yeah, just like you gave up on her," I sigh.

"Well who are you seeing?" Scott huffs. "Someone I don't know?"

"Don't sound so shocked. I have other friends!" I yell into the phone.

"Like who? Please don't tell me its Lydia. I know Jackson is gone, but Stiles you have to drop it. Your obsession with her has gotten pretty bad lately…"

"It's not Lydia!" I yell.

"Then who?" he yells back.

"I have to go!" I yell again as I pull up in front of Derek's apartment.

"Will you just tell me who ya-" I hang up on him mid sentence as I get out. I stride quickly into the lobby of the old, brick, once upon a time factory building. I don't bother with the elevator buttons this time. I practically run down Derek's hallway to reach number 9. I wrap on the door three times before it swings open.

"Calm down Stiles what's the rush?" Isaac says laughing at my vigorous knocking.

"Derek here?" I ask straightening my t-shirt.

"Uhh… Yeah. Hey Derek?" Isaac calls into the bare apartment. "Stiles wants you," Isaac smiles back at me as I hear someone trump down the spiral stairs.

"Stiles?" Derek's brow furrows when he sees me. "What's wrong with Scott?"

"Nothing. Not everything is about Scott," I say laughing slightly.

"Then what do you want?" Derek asks aggressively.

"I want you to chill out," I mutter under my breath.

"What?" Derek asks leaning closer to my face.

"Do you know Max's address?" I ask impatiently.

"She's apartment three at 42 Grove Street," Derek huffs.

"Thank you," I say bowing slightly before running back toward the staircase.

"That's all you wanted?" Derek steps into the hall as he yells to me.

"Believe me I want as little from you as possible!" I smile before disappearing down the stairs. My legs pulse as I sprint back to the car. I rev the engine and am spinning down the street toward Grove Street in a matter of seconds. Max lied about it being right down the road it took me a good eight minutes by car. Finally I reach the apartment building not unlike Derek's, but slightly more rundown. I pull the jeep off to the side of the road and then spring from it like a jack in the box ready to be freed. I run up to the second floor where the board told me apartment three was located. I calm myself and inhale deeply before raising my hand to knock.

"Stiles?" Max says as the door swings open.

"How'd you know I was here? I didn't knock… Right? Or am I just that wound up that I missed knocking on your-"

"No!" she breaks in laughing. "I was just on my way out."

"Oh, is this a bad time then?" I ask taking a step back. "I just didn't have your number so I couldn't call, so I thought I'd come over-" she cuts me off again.

"Now today you are talking a lot," she says grabbing the sleeve of my faded t-shirt and pulling me into her brick apartment. It is smaller than Derek's and looks like it's only got one floor. The door opens up to a small wood and stainless steel kitchen and a beat up leather couch facing a large window. There is only one visible door hanging open exposing a silver fixture bathroom. The apartment looks fairly expensive, but its small and it looks like the only thing Max has brought in here is the beat up couch and a squat dresser.

"Nice place," I say spinning around as she closes the door.

"Not as nice as yours," she smiles as she moves over to the fridge. "I lived in a house just like yours when I was little."

"Oh yeah?" I ask as she pulls out two bottles of water.

"I moved out when my parents died," she smiles that sad nostalgic smile I know crosses my face when I mention my mom. I take the bottle from her and nod.

"I moved out of my childhood home when my mom passed," I feel the nostalgic smile fill my face. She nods and opens the bottle taking a sip. I appreciate her, she understands, she doesn't say I'm sorry, she doesn't say I'm sure you miss her, all she does is nod. In that way she reminds me of my mother, she always seems to know exactly what to do.

"Oh and…" she swallows as she puts her bottle down on the counter. "Don't worry about not calling, I don't have a phone."

"No phone?" I feel more surprised than I think I should.

"I know crazy right!" she says copying my surprised face.

"Well aren't you a special snowflake," I laugh crossing my arms.

"Hey, hey," she looks sideways at me with those imposing blue eyes. "I am no snowflake."

"You dress out of the norm, you have like one piece of furniture, you have a weird clunky buckle backpack and your best friend is a big black dog. I assume you have an impeccable taste in music too, but it's made up of only bands I've never heard of," I smirk as she crosses the room.

"I like mainstream pop and rock. Actually as mainstream as it comes. The dog came with the family, I told him to leave, but he keeps coming back. My backpack is practical, it's for my research. I have three pieces of furniture, dresser, couch and TV. Not because I'm simplistic, it's because I'm poor. I like to wear what I think looks good, so one day I'll wear this and the next day you'll see me in a polka dot dress. You my friend are the hipster between us," she says, her eyebrows raised. She is clearly happy with herself.

"I don't see a TV," I say looking around.

"It's small. It's hidden behind the couch," she says walking over toward the floor to ceiling window the couch is facing. "Come here," she waves me over so I can see the tiny TV in all its glory. Beside it are three stacks of DVDs and Xbox games.

"Xbox?" I say as I slump down into the couch. "That's pretty special snowflake of you. You play a lot of COD?" I ask sarcastically.

"No," she frowns at me. "I don't like first person shooters. I like third person open world games," she tells me as she flops down beside me.

"Like Assassin's Creed?" I ask skimming the titles I can see from where I'm sitting.

"And Grand Theft Auto and Skyrim and Fallout, LA Nior and Red Dead Redemption," she nods. I can't help but smile.

"I love Red Dead," I sigh.

"LA Nior is my favorite, but I could still kick your butt at Red Dead," she says smiling sweetly.

"Looks like someone's looking to get their ass handed to them," I say quickly before feeling silly talking to this girl who is currently dressed in jeans and a faded red t-shirt, a lot like mine, about some games that Scott doesn't even like. "Wait," I say looking closer at the shirt. "Do we have the same shirt on?" She looks down then crosses her arms over her chest.

"Boy's clothes are cute too!" she moans. "I didn't think I was going to see you…" I raise my eyebrows.

"You'd have worn something different if you knew you were going to see me?" I smirk at her and she rolls her eyes.

"Something much more unappealing," she says sarcastically as she lifts up my shirt by the collar pulling it over my head. "Speaking of unappealing," she says as she stands up and I pull my shirt back down. She walks into the bathroom. "Damnit!" I hear her scream before she comes back out with my sweatshirt. "I stubbed my toe," she frowns as she holds my sweatshirt out in front of her.

"Thanks, I thought I lost this earlier today," I laugh as I stand up to accept the blue sweatshirt.

"You forgot you gave it to me?" she asks as I slip it on.

"I kind of I lose stuff a lot so that was my first thought," I say.

"Right," she laughs slightly biting her bottom lip. Then my mind is overcome with images of my lips on hers I try to blink them away. "Not to be rude or anything, but why are you here?"

"Oh… Uhh…" I stammer for an excuse, anything Stiles! Literally anything.

"You are one funny kid, one second you can stop talking and the next you are at a complete loss of words," she laughs under her breath as she heads toward the door. "While you think of an excuse how about you come on a walk with me?"

"Sounds good," I nod running out the door after her. "Thanks for returning my sweatshirt, I'd have been cold without it."

"Sure thing," she says as she pulls on her own sweatshirt before locking her apartment door. "Sorry about the smell." She says not looking at me as she fiddles with her backpack.

"Smell?" I say inhaling a mix of deep, musty, almost man like perfume and the smell of fresh laundry. "You washed it?"

"I fell asleep in it," she pushes her arms through her backpack before cupping her hands over her face like she's embarrassed. We head down the stairs as she explains. "I felt bad. I felt like I had to wash it."

"You know guys like the thought of girls in bed with their clothes on," I smirk at her. "Even you."

"Ouch!" she yells as we get out onto the street. "I figured you could just slip it on right after the game tomorrow and you'd be all set, girl smell gone, smelly lacrosse boy returned."

"Good idea, only problem is I'd have to get one of the other guys to wear it because I don't get that sweaty after a game." I frown thinking about how I still haven't made first string even after the last game of last season and all my summer practice. I thought about just leaving the team for a while. Maybe play football. Like Clan McCall I was slightly under appreciated by Coach.

"You don't?" she asks quickly. "Are you super man?" she gasps sarcastically.

"I'm about as much of a superman as you," I raise my eyebrows at her as we step up the curb to enter the woods. We aren't too far from the Hale house. I'll make sure to miss that stop on this trip.

"Then you must be pretty fricken super," she says flexing her muscles. "I'm immortal."

"Oh yeah I could tell by the way you yelled about stubbing your toe earlier," I nod quickly.

"I pretend to be pained sometimes to fit in with the normals," she says proudly puffing out her chest as we march.

"You're doing a stellar job," I nod. "Should we go over all the things that make you a different again?"

"But it's the perfect cover! Most people are dense like you. They just think I'm a hipster!" She yells excitedly throwing her hands up in the air.

"Hey," I say looking around. "I just realized I haven't seen Puca."

"That loser is probably out here scaring the crap out of people," she huffs crossing her arms over the white word Harvard that spans her chest.

"Loser? That's how you talk about your dog?" I say shaking my head.

"Ha. Yeah. Dog," she says sarcastically before looking sideways at me. "He's a loser, trust me."

"Ok, forget Puca, tell me about this sweatshirt," I say pushing up against her back to pull her arms away from her chest. Even through the few layers of clothes I like feeling her body pressed to mine and I'm disappointed when she pulls away.

"My grandfather got it for me as a joke," she says looking back at me sticking her tongue out.

"So you aren't thinking of going there then?" I ask.

"Hell no." I'm not quite sure why I feel so relieved. "No, college for me. I have to finish the research. What about you?"

"College? I've always seen myself going, but I've never really thought about it," I rub my chin thinking of all the schools that have sent me pamphlets. "Clock's ticking! One year to go!" she says excitedly.

"Right. So… Tell me about your research," I say looking sideways at her.

"How come you get to ask all the questions?" she asks.

"Ok fine, ask away," I sigh.

"Why were you in the woods the other night?" she asks losing any joking tone from her voice.

"Alright wait, I asked you that question and you didn't give me an answer," I cross my arms as we stop in the middle of the seemingly endless trees.

"I said research!" she says exasperatedly.

"I mean when I asked you later for details," I say just as frustrated.

"You never asked that," she says quickly.

"Yes I did," I say just as fast.

"No you didn't," her brow furrows.

"Yes!" I say back.

"I don't remember that," she shakes her head.

"It happened."

"No."

"Yes."

"No! It happened in your dreams!" she screams. I review all of our conversations. Maybe I hadn't asked. Maybe I had just created the conversation so many times in my head I thought we'd already had it.

"Ok well I'm not giving details until you do," I cross my arms. She copies and then sticks her tongue out at me like a little kid before stalking away.

"You are the most absolutely frustrating person, besides Derek Hale, to ever walk this-" she sticks her arm out in front of me so I stop walking. "What?" I look at her and she points to a skinless body a few feet in front of us. "Oh my-" I feel like I'm going to gag. I step back and close my eyes. "I am not good with blood!" I yell rubbing my face.

"This is even worse than the other body. There has to be two of them…" she mutters.

"Ok this is not ok. Oh God, oh God. I'm calling my dad," I say trying to pull my phone from my pocket.

"No!" she yells and I open one eye to see her bent down over the body a notebook open. She is furiously drawing the body.

"What are you doing?!" I screech closing both eyes again. "I'm calling him, he needs to see this, he's the-"

"Don't call your dad!" She yells over me.

"He's the sheriff he needs to see-"

"Stiles!" she cuts through my rambling again.

"He's going to be so mad that I found the body. The computer, now the body-"

"Stiles! Stiles!" I open one eye again when her hand braces my elbow. "Please don't call your dad, please."

"Why? I don't-" I say shaking my head.

"This is it! This is why I was in the woods!" she shouts. "This is my research!"

"Dead people?" I yell. "Are you a necrophiliac or something?"

"No!" She screams. "I'm studying the creature that did-" the sounds and lights of my dad's squad car closing in cut her off.

"I swear to God I didn't call him," I say quickly throwing my hands up.

"Shut up and hide!" she yells pushing me down behind a granite boulder.

"Why are we hiding?"

"You said he'd be pissed if he found you with the body!" she furrows her brow and drops her voice to a whisper as the sound of cars stopping and car doors slamming waver over to us.

"I think it was really just rambling. I get sick and sweaty and rambly when I see a lot of blood and that was A LOT of blood!" I yell.

"Shhh!" she growls angrily.

"What?" I say standing up. "He won't be pissed, I promise," I say stepping out from behind the boulder.

"He'll be suspicious though when he finds me next to this body just like the last one!" she whisper screams just as dad yells my name.

"Stiles!" dad yells. "What in the Sam Hell are you doing here? You said you were leaving to see a friend!" dad says as he approaches the rock.

"I did, I mean I am," I say before looking back behind the rock. I somehow knew she'd be gone.

"What?" dad says looking behind the rock.

"Scott saw the lights and freaked," I lie.

"Oh," dad's brow furrows. "That's not like him."

"He's kind of jumpy lately, with the death you know. But what are you doing here?" I lie again.

"Another death, over there. Gary's got the light on it now," dad says trumping through the leaves toward the body. I again react physically to the sight of the skinless human. Death fills my airways and constricts my breathing. Its eyes are cocked and bones through muscle are clearly visible. It lays lifeless in a pool of it's own blood. I have to turn away.

"Oh my god," I say again bending in half feeling like I might vomit.

"It's sick what people will do," dad says angrily.

"Right," I say swallowing hard. "Sick what people will do."


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello friends! I want to let you all know that I will be in Italy after tonight. I don't know how that will fit in with my writing, as of now I'm still on schedule to release a chapter a day. I like this chapter I think this is the first one that really lets you guess at who Max really is. If you have a guess on who Max is or what she is doing in Beacon Hills I would love to hear it! As always ****I do not own any character or place owned by Teen Wolf and **thank you all for reading, reviewing, favoriting and following! It really means a lot to me that you all like this story as much as me. 

"Hey how was seeing your friend?" Scott asks raising his eyebrows at me as he catches up to me.

"As fun as finding a body in the woods," I say sarcastically as I rush up into the school building.

"What's the rush?" Scott asks grabbing onto my backpack to slow me down.

"I need to find Max," I tell him as I yank his arm from my bag.

"Wait," Scott says stopping. "Is she the friend you saw?"

"Yeah," I mutter as I scan the halls for her.

"So?" Scott says excitedly getting in the way.

"So what?" I say pushing him away from me as I start down the hall.

"Did you guys…" Scott raises his eyebrows at me.

"Yes. We had wild, red-hot sex all night. What do you think?" I yell and a few people shoot me looks. "It's like you've never met me!"

"Well I was hoping for the best," Scott laughs nervously.

"Do you know her homeroom?" I ask him frantically noticing the students starting to duck into their classrooms.

"How should I know?" Scott shakes his head. "We have to get to our own homeroom though. The bell is going to ring any-" the bell cuts him off.

"Go ahead," I motion down the hallway. "I need to find Max."

"Why? You can talk to her later," Scott shakes his head as he starts backwards down the hallway.

"I want to talk to her now," I yell to him moving toward the front office.

"Ms. Henderson is going to kill you!" he yells to me as I turn the corner. I race down the bleak halls watching door after door close the sure sign of Ms. Henderson chewing me out. Today I wasn't worried about that though. Today I was worried that I would never understand what Max had said to me last night. I thought it over once I got home; she told me she was researching the creature that did this. What creature? How did she know it was a creature? I swing open the front office door and put on my cheesiest smile.

"Mrs. Butters!" I sing to the squat, round woman behind the desk. She looks up at me with tired eyes.

"What do you want Mr. Stilinski?" she groans.

"Can I just say you are looking amazing today?" I smile wider. "Is that dress new? The blue matches your eyes perfect-"

"Cut the shit and tell me what you want," the sixty-something-year-old woman snaps.

"Alrighty then," I say losing the smile. "I got a problem."

"Herpes?" she grunts.

"No! It's not herpes!"

"Then what?"

"I'm looking for someone," I say leaning up against her desk.

"Aren't we all…"

"She goes to this school," I sigh. "Her name is Maxine Discite, senior, started here on Friday of last week." Butters squints up at me and I sigh again. "Can you tell me her homeroom?"

"Class has already started, Mr. Stilinski," she says quickly.

"I'm sorry I was under the impression that we were cutting the bullshit," I cross my arms and she does the same leaning back into her seat.

"If I give you the homeroom, you give me your pudding at lunch," she says quickly.

"My pudding? Seriously that's basically the only thing they serve that I'll-"

"Do we have a deal or not?" she snaps.

"Ok! Ok! Fine, I'll give you the pudding," I give in and she instantly turns to the computer screen. She pounds on the keys and then tells me Max's room number. I thank her and promise to bring her the pudding before spinning back out into the hallway. She's got Mr. Creaser, my chemistry teacher, for her homeroom teacher and it's just my luck it's him because like Ms. Henderson, he cannot stand me. I reach room number 114 and knock on it quickly.

"Mr. Stilinski?" Mr. Creaser's brow dips as he opens the door. I catch sight of Max sitting in one of the first desks behind him her nose is in the Beacon Hill Strange Happenings book. Today she has on an off white dress with dark black polka dots, just like she promised. Her hair hangs down for the first time since I met her. It curls softly at the ends in just the right way.

"Hi," I smile at Mr. Creaser. "I need to speak with Max Discite."

"Why?" he shakes his head. "It can wait until after class," he goes to close the door, but I put my arm out to stop it.

"No!" I yell frantically and I notice that Max has now looked up. "I need to speak with Max now."

"Mr. Creaser!" Max says quickly standing up. "Stiles is my cousin, is something wrong?"

"Oh um yeah…" I nod quickly as I lie. "It's about Grandma Eden…"

"Do you mind if we talk outside quickly?" Max says dipping under Mr. Creaser's arm. She pushes up against me and out the door before Mr. Creaser can say no. "What?" she spits.

"That was smart," I shrug.

"Do you have something you need or are you just trying to get me in trouble?" she puts her hands on her hips.

"I need to talk to you about what happened last-" A large crash behind me cuts me off. We turn to see a thin freshmen boy flying down the hall, clearly late. He buzzes past narrowly avoiding us. "Watch it freshmen." He stops and turns to us; his mouth opens exposing long, thin teeth, rows and rows of teeth. He lets out a shiver inducing moaning shriek. "Jesus Christ!" I yell pushing Max behind me as the kid runs around the opposite corner. "Who was-"

"Stiles," Max says grabbing my arm.

"What was that?"

"It's not important. What is important is that you and I need to see less of each other," she looks me dead in the eye in a way that causes me shiver as much as the kids screech had.

"Max what are you talking about? Did you just see-" She cuts me off.

"Stiles! Look my life has been one loss after another and with everything going around here-" she stops herself now.

"Max you aren't going to lose-" she cuts me off again.

"Don't say that," she says seriously. "Don't…" She laughs slightly She puts her hands on the door handle, but I grab them pulling her back to me. She grabs a fistful of my t-shirt and pushes her face into my chest so I can't see her eyes. I wrap my arms around her carefully not wanting to let her go.

"Max," I whisper into her hair taking in the perfume's comforting smell. "Tell me what you are scared of…" She holds on a minute more before pushing me away. She opens the door without looking back at me.

"I can't tell you… But I can't stop you from learning it yourself…" she says before dipping into the classroom. I want to ask her more, I want to hold onto her again, but before I can Mr. Creaser steps in front of me.

"Mr. Stilinski…" Mr. Creaser puts his arm out to stop me from following Max into the room. "Get to class. Now." He slams door in my face.

"I can't go to class. I have to learn something," I say shaking my head quickly. I dash down the hallway and run into the library instantly I get a look from Hector, the librarian. "Hey Hector," I smile uneasily and he frowns.

"Shh!" he glares as I pass him for the computers. I quickly pound on the keys I go to Google. I search everything and anything that comes to my mind. Long, thin teeth in strange skinny boys, white things running across roads and dead skinless bodies. Nothing comes up in the hundreds of web pages I comb through. I spend half the day in the library learning nothing. I push my chair back away from the computer frustrated nothing has come out of all these pages. Just as I'm about to give up my phone rings, I answer it before it runs through one ring cycle.

"What?" I whisper into the receiver.

"Where are you? And why are you whispering?" Scott's voice says loudly enough that Hector can hear what he is saying.

"Tell him you are in the library and can't speak right now because the library has a strict no cell-" I cut Hector off.

"What Hector? Sorry I can't hear you!" I yell.

"Hector?" Scott asks. "You're in the library? Is that were you've been?"

"Mr. Stilinski!" Hector yells. "Turn off your phone!"

"It's uhh not a phone it's an iPod!" I yell back.

"Stiles?" Scott's voice comes through again. "Are you coming to lunch or-" I can't hear the second half of his sentence because Hector's voice is louder than Scott's.

"It's not an iPod! You don't talk into iPods!" Hector screeches.

"Yes I'm coming…" I shove the phone back into my pocket. "Well I'm done now!" I say standing up as I turn off the computer.

"Stiles this is a place of learning and you need to-" I cut Hector off as I pass the man who is much too young to be a librarian in a vest.

"And I learned something. You aren't supposed to use your cell phone in the library! Good lesson Hector!" I yell as I push open the metal doors to the hallway. The hallways buzz like my head. Max knows what's going on, but the computer doesn't. I push my way through the crowds to find Scott and Isaac at our normal lunch table.

"No lunch?" Isaac asks through a mouthful of sandwich.

"I'll get some after the rush," I sigh taking my seat.

"Where have you been? Have you skipped all your classes?" Scott asks anxiously.

"Uhh… Yeah," I nod.

"Why? Max was in my math class so I know you weren't with her," Scott looks confused while Isaac listens, while continuing to eat his sandwich.

"Max is scared of something and I understand why. Today in the hallway some freshmen boy screeched at us showing off these creepy long, spindly teeth, and she's seen both of the skinless bodies…" I shudder at the thought of the bodies.

"So?" Scott shakes his head.

"Somehow she knows what is doing this or she knows what that kid is, but she won't tell me! And she knows, but Google doesn't! I put in every word combination I could think of and combed through every web page that came up. I'm no better off then when I started," I say exasperatedly.

"Well did you search Max?" Isaac suggests spitting crumbs across the table.

"What?" Scott asks before I can.

"You can learn a lot about a person by searching them," Isaac shrugs.

"She doesn't seem like the type to spend much time on social media…" I say my brow furrowing at the thought of Max tweeting.

"That doesn't mean other people haven't put things up about her. Or search her family name, learn where she came from, what they did, how they died all that," he shrugs again as he swallows.

"You could do the same for the freshmen kid, just need his name," Scott shrugs. "You could probably get it out of Mrs.-"

"Butters!" I laugh finishing his sentence. "Sorry boys I have a date with a sixty-year-old woman and her computer!" I stand up and slap the table victoriously. "Oh and I'll need your pudding," I say taking each boy's pudding.

"What? What for!" Isaac yells defensively.

"It's the currency of knowledge!" I yell back.

"Don't eat it all in one place," Scott huffs as I exit the cafeteria. I run back to the front office and put Scott's pudding cup on the desk triumphantly.

"One pudding, as promised…" I say quietly as she grabs the pudding and greedily stashes it away in one of her desk drawers. "And," I say putting down the second cup, "I need another favor." She eyes me then the pudding.

"What?" she spits.

"Access to the photo ID profiles of the freshmen that I know you have on your computer," I say in a hushed tone.

"Five minutes," she says squinting her eyes like she is trying to read my bluff.

"Ten minutes.

"Six."

"Eight."

"Four," she frowns.

"Ok, ok six is good!" I say happily. She snatches the pudding from the desk before getting up out of her chair.

"I'll take my walk now. Thanks for watching the office for me while I'm gone," she says as she opens the door.

"Anything to help my favorite staff member," I beam as she closes the door. I delve into the ID files as quickly as I had snatched Scott and Isaac's pudding. I click into the freshmen page and start to shift. None of the pictures seem to match the image I have in my head. Thin, pale, red curling hair, dark eyes. One ID is picture free; instead of a face the words "No Picture Available" fill the small box at the top left.

"Perfect," I blow out as I lean back in the chair. I let my mind go wondering where it will take me. I find myself shuffling through the senior IDs, only one has the "No Picture Available" words at the top left corner. Maxine Discite. She transferred here after they took the school pictures, so they don't have one available. Maybe the freshman was the same way? I switch back to the freshmen IDs and back to the photo-less one.

"Simon Morin," I rub my chin as I read his profile. Under the ID is a link to teacher notes. I hit it and read about how Simon transferred last week from somewhere in Canada. I switch back to Max's now. Her notes talk about her move from a place called Groton in Massachusetts. Apparently she had been attending a fairly prestigious private school, but was kicked out for leaving campus without getting permission to do so. I close out of the IDs and pull up Google maps. I put in Groton, MA and quickly find it is in the middle of farm country. Even if Max had snuck off campus she wasn't sneaking off to anywhere, but into the middle of the woods. Whatever is here in Beacon Hills must have been there too.

"Time's up!" Butters yells as she walks in. I quickly clear the browser history and relinquish the computer to her.

"Thank you," I say quietly. She nods her head and I'm gone. I run back toward the library feeling the rush of the break through. Scott grabs my arm as I blow past him. "Got to get back to the library! I'll explain later!" I push him off and turn down the hall rushing back into Hector's lair. When I burst through the door Hector looks like he might burst a blood vessel in his forehead.

"Stiles you have to be-" I cut him off.

"Shh!" I smile at him before taking the spot at my computer. I decide it's best to search around about Simon Morin first, because I know I won't be able to pull myself away from learning about Max, if I find anything about her at all. I pull up Google and punch Simon Morin into the little box. It turns out not only is there a French singer named Simon Morin, Simon and Morin are two of the most common names in Canada. I give in to my want to look up Max and soon Simon is the last thing on my mind.

Now I search Maxine Discite. Right away I find an article about her parent's death. Her father was Robert Discite and her mother, Velma Discite. Both were killed instantly when they ran their car off a highway. The police can only assume it was to avoid something, possibly a deer or moose. The article mentions how their daughter, Maxine Discite, will be living with her mother's brother from now on. I search Robert Discite and learn that he was once a professor for a college in New England, but was "let-go" when he started writing theory based papers on mythological creatures such as pixies, pucas and werewolves.

Now I'm looking up Puca. Page after page describe a shapeless spirit that can either be a sign of good luck or an omen. They will often take the form of dogs, goats, horses or rabbits; their only identifier is that in any form they will remain a deep black. I take a moment to let everything sink in, but soon I'm back at it, this time searching for anything on Max's uncle, Fredrick.

There is an article describing the trial in which Max testified against Fredrick, not only did he severely neglect her; she also said he deprived her of basic human rights. I skip to the bottom not wanting to know the details. It goes on to say Maxine Discite is to move in with her dad's father, Maximus Discite, the man she was clearly named for, the moment the trials conclude.

Maximus Discite has very little written about him other than his name brought me to Max's old schools' website. He was a board member there. I'm surprised he couldn't keep Max from getting expelled. The search on Maximus leads me to a page on the meaning of names, Discite is of Latin descent according to the page, but it doesn't give me a meaning. So I pull up Google translate, and learn that Discite translates as Learn.

What was Max sneaking off campus for? Why couldn't Maximus keep the school from expelling Max? Why would her uncle abuse her? Why would her father write and try to publish theory-based material on mythical creatures? What caused Velma and Robert's car to crash? What couldn't Max tell me? What was I missing? I rub my face. Robert knew werewolves were real. Does that mean Max knows werewolves are real? Is that what she's scared of? Is that why she told me to be careful? Does she know Peter and Derek are werewolves? Does she know Isaac and Scott are? Does she think I am?

"Boo!" Scott yells grabbing my shoulders.

"Jesus Christ!" I feel myself jump a good two feet in the air before coming down hard narrowly avoiding my over turned chair. "What the f-" Scott cuts me off.

"What is this? Learn?" Scott says clicking on the page I have open.

"Get out of here!" I whisper yell as I squeeze myself between Scott and the computer. "Hector does not like me today and you are going to get me kicked out!"

"Chill," Scott says pushing me out of the way easily.

"You almost got me kicked out earlier when you called me!" I growl as he looks through my history.

"What is all this?" Scott asks not looking at me.

"I feel like you are snooping through personal information," I say hitting the button on the computer monitor so the screen goes black. Scott looks at me sideways.

"It's not your personal information and you went through it, so why can't I?" Scott says angrily.

"Max told me too," I say folding my arms to protect myself.

"Really?" Scott says sarcastically. "What exactly did she say?"

"Um… Well you know… She said, 'I can't tell you, but I can't stop you from learning it yourself' and that basically means, I want you to learn this stuff, but no one else."

"Actually it means she can't stop you from learning stuff you shouldn't know," Scott says crossing his own arms.

"It's just a lot to take in and not all of it's good and I feel like I need to protect it. I feel like I need to protect her," I say before I really know what I'm saying. Scott sighs deeply like he knows exactly what I'm feeling.

"At least give me a summary?" Scott sighs letting his arms drop.

"Ok fine," I say quickly as I clear my history and shut down the computer. I pull Scott behind the nearest bookshelf to avoid alerting Hector to our talking. "Parents died in car crash. Police think it was caused by them trying to avoid something in the road. Learned nothing about mom, but dad was once a professor. Dad was fired because he started writing theory-papers on mythical creatures. Stuff happens and eventually she goes to a private school near Boston. Grandpa was on the board of the fancy prep school, but even with gramps on the board she still gets kicked out. She gets busted for sneaking off campus, but there is nothing off campus, woods and farmland surround it for miles. And you already saw Discite means Learn," I say in one long breath.

"So what does that mean for us?" Scott asks blinking furiously. I doubt he caught more than half of that.

"Her dad wrote papers on mythical beasts, one of them mentioned was werewolves," I say crossing my arms again.

"She knows about-"

"I'm not sure yet… But another creature mentioned was a Puca. It's this shape-shifting creature from Irish folklore. They supposedly often take the form of a horse, goat, rabbit and dog. The only constant is that they have dark fur. Her dog is named Puca and he is jet black."

"Is it actually a _puca_?" Scott asks concerned.

"I'm not sure…" I rub my chin trying to think about the time I'd spent with the dog. "He seems like a normal dog to me."

"So what do we do with this information? Did you ask her about any of it?" Scott says leading the way out of the library.

"No," I say quickly as we pass the return bin. I can just make out the words "Fantastical and Strange" inside the blue metal bin. I reach in and grab up the worn book and flip it over. The ugly brown binding confirms to me that this is the book that Max was reading. "Wait, wait!" I say before turning back toward Hector's desk.

"What do you want Stilinski?" Hector groans.

"I just want to check out this book," I push the book towards him as I speak. I don't even try to fake sweetness anymore. Hector grunts as he takes the book. He opens to the front cover and his brow crinkles in confusion.

"Oh, haha," Hector says pushing the book back toward me. "Good joke Stilinski, checking out a book you already own? Wow."

"What? I don't-" my sentence drops as I open the book. At the top of the inside front cover my name has been written in swirling cursive. I drop the book on the desk exclaiming, "That is not ok! That is not ok! I'm not ok! I am not ok!"

"Stiles! Seriously! Just be quiet!" Hector pleas with me as he shoves the book into my hands. "You are driving me crazy! Get out of here!" Scott pulls my new book and me out into the hallway. "This isn't my book Scott!"

"I know!" Scott yells back. "You just checked it out from the library!"

"No I didn't!" I yell back.

"What are you talking about? I just watched you-"

"Hector said it doesn't belong to the library!" I yell feeling my eyes buldge from my head.

"Then who does it-"

"Me!" I say holding open the front cover. "It says it belongs to me!"

"Jesus Christ…" Scott says taking the book from my hands.

"Yeah! Jesus Christ is right!" I yell now starting to pace.

"Ok! Ok!" Scott yells over me. "You need to chill out, we both do. We have a game in an hour and we need to get to the locker room. Can you handle going to the game?" Scott asks like I'm a little kid.

"Yes, but give me my book," I say holding my hands out in front of me.

"You sure?" Scott asks nervously.

"I was hoping you'd say, 'It isn't your book, I don't see your name on it'…" I mutter under my breath.

"Do you want to go back and have me say that?" Scott looks at me confused.

"No, it's fine the moment's past," I sigh taking the book from Scott's hands before following after him down the hall toward the locker room.


	7. Chapter 7

**Truthfully I wanted to stop writing this story. That's pretty much how it always goes with me. I get bored with stories I write because I know how they end. But I got a bunch of nice review recently and was like, well now I have to keep writing the story... So here is the next chapter, I can't tell you exactly when the next one will come out, sometimes it just pours out of me like this one did, I wrote it all in like two hours, other times it takes days. Expect it at least within the next week, being in college now, my time table is slightly different and I'm not even close to being used to it, I'm lucky though, I have no classes on Fridays. If I don't write the chapter before Friday expect me to write it Friday. Hope this was worth the wait for those still interested in reading! So sorry it took so long... This is a good chapter for understanding what the heck has been going on. I feel like I owe you guys an insight after the amount of time I made ya'll wait. Thank you to those who read, reviewed, liked and followed while I was away! You guys inspired me to keep going! ****As a side note I want to say I won't follow the show's timeline, it's too difficult to fit into my current storyline plan. And a**s always I only own Max and the storyline. Enjoy!

"Derek is really pissed about the dog whistle mishap…" Scott says pulling his jersey over his head.

"Yeah, I don't really care," I smile pulling my stick from the locker just big enough to house it.

"You sure you can't find that website again?" Scott asks.

"I'm sure! And we spent hours playing other whistles, none made you guys act any different!" I slam the locker door in frustration taking note that my new book is still inside first. "We are just going to have to find another way of finding the alphas." I tell him as we walk out towards the fields.

"Hey, know what I was thinking?" Scott says twirling his stick as we walk.

"Unfortunately I have not yet mastered the art of mind reading," I sigh thinking about my new book. Why did it have my freaking name in it?

"You didn't show up to school technically because you didn't show up to homeroom. Doesn't that mean they called your dad and asked if he knew you weren't at school?" Scott asks as he yawns, pulling me from my thoughts.

"They call my home, they aren't aloud to call him at work," I shrug throwing my helmet in the air before catching it. "I'll delete the message before he has a chance to hear it."

"Huh…" Scott smiles as we reach the field. "I bet that's the same for my mom."

"McCall! Stilinski! Get in line and get throwing!" Coach yells at us and we jump into position running drills and stretching. We try to do everything in a very coordinated way. We take two laps around the field in a single file line. Everything is supposed to intimidate the other team, but no amount of running intimidates me. It's all about the size of the players.

"Christ number 34 is big!" Isaac says gawking a little too long.

"Keep your eyes on the field!" Coach says grabbing Isaac's facemask. "These guys are big, but we make up for it in speed. We can kick ass if you keep your minds on it!" Coach yells. "Danny in the goal, Isaac forward…" I let my mind go as names and positions are read. I only keep one ear out for my name knowing it won't be called, but hoping it will be. My head is with the computer and Max. I'm living her life in my mind, her parent's funeral, her abusive uncle, getting kicked out of school, so much sadness, and yet somehow she is the only person who has made me feel happy lately. "Stiles!" Coach yells pushing me toward the bench. "Let's go!"

"Right sorry," I mutter as I take my place on the bench. I look down it, it's me two sophomores and a junior, every bloody time. I watch the game halfheartedly, no one can score; it goes back and forth with no result up until halftime. Even after a rousing speech from coach we don't score.

"I've tried everything!" Scott pants as he dumps his water over his head. "I don't know what to do. I just can't score on this guy!"

"Is he… like you?" I ask quietly.

"Not that I can tell," Isaac pants just as hard.

"Well I have no clue what to do," I sigh blissfully.

"Why are you so happy?" Scott frowns.

"It's almost over," I smile quickly.

"Not quite," Coach says behind me. "We go till we score. We have overtime now." All three of us turn to look at him.

"What? Since when?" I yell.

"Scott, Isaac back in. Trade with James and Jack. And since the High School Lacrosse Association got together and decided it!" Coach yells back. "We just need one guys!" Coach yells clapping his hands.

"Why aren't you cheering?" one of the sophomores asks.

"I forgot how," I say sarcastically as the attention moves from the game to a girl in a white shirt and skinny jeans tearing out of the woods, her dirty blonde hair and mess of necklaces flying around her. She tears across the field and game play stops. All of us turn to watch her and I stand up to except her.

"Stiles!" Max yells as she grabs my forearms.

"What the hell-" the ref's whistle covers the second half of my sentence.

"Game on!" the ref yells angrily.

"I need your phone!" she yells pulling on my arms.

"It's in the locker room. Why?" she shakes and spins around nervously reminding me of myself.

"Stilinski!" Coach yells. "Who is this girl?"

"This is-" she cuts me off now.

"Max," she glares at him. "I'm in your economics class!"

"I don't care if you're the Queen of England! Quit bugging my players!" Coach screams down at Max.

"He's not playing!" she screams back.

"That's not the point-" I cut off Coach.

"She's my cousin. Our grandmother is sick. She is kind of freaking out. Can she just sit with me until the end of the game?" I beg him.

"Fine, but no running across the field!" Coach yells before turning back to the game.

"I need your phone," she says greedily as I pull her onto the bench.

"I heard. Why?" I ask.

"I need to call Derek," she says hurriedly holding out her hand clearly wanting me to put the phone into her hand.

"Max I already told you. It's in the locker room…"

"How do I get in?" she growls.

"You don't," I growl back. "Boy's locker room!"

"Just give me your jersey! No one will know the difference," she shakes her head.

"I can't just give you the shirt off my back!"

"Why not?"

"Because then I won't have a shirt," I say through gritted teeth.

"I'm sure you look fabulous without a shirt on," she frowns. I bite my tongue to keep myself from saying, "I bet you do too…"

"What's so urgent you need to call him? And what happened to spending less time together?" I ask crossing my arms. She looks to her side eyeing the junior a few feet away.

"I just want to talk to him. And that staying clear of you thing was harder than I thought it would be," she frowns again.

"Would it be crazy to say I missed you?" I ask quickly.

"Crazy? No. Cheesy? Yes," she says crossing her own arms.

"Did you change your clothes? You had a dress," I say looking her up and down.

"I got sick of it," she shrugs pulling on her shirt. "I thought this looked better."

"It does," I nod quickly. "But I wasn't going to say it."

"Honesty is the best policy," Max smirks. "I like this shirt because it makes my boobs look good." She says looking down. She gets my airways to constrict again. She was exactly right. "Hey!" She points at me accusingly. "You're distracting me! Coach!" She yells looking over at the wild haired man with crazy eyes to match.

"What?" he yells angrily.

"When does the game end?" she yells back.

"When the whistle-" the ref's whistle cuts him off.

"Game over!" she yells pulling on my shoulder.

"No!" Coach yells in her face, she stands up to yell back.

"Why!"

"Now we are in over time!"

"How do we end it now?" she screeches angrily.

"We have to score," Coach speaks now, making both Max and I confused. "Stiles your in take Isaac out."

"Wha… Who me?" I say pointing to myself.

"No, I'm sorry the other boy on this planet names Stiles!" Coach roars and I'm on my feet in seconds. I race out toward the middle of the field and trip in the process. I hear coach groan as I stand up. He sent me out here to lose the game, let a ball get past us, let us go home.

"Go! Score fast!" Max yells after me and I wave slightly as I pull on my helmet.

"Stiles?" Scott pants using me to hold himself up.

"Hey," I nod my head. "What's going on?"

"You know," Scott shrugs.

"Same," I say just before the ref's whistle blows again. Somehow the ball finds its way into my net, my feet seem to be doing the thinking for me. They are sprinting toward the opposite goal, I easily doge the other team, they are entirely worn out, where as I'm ready to go. A fake right, a shot left, and I win the game. Everyone cheers and runs toward me, even Coach. I stand perfectly still slightly surprised at what just unfolded. It all seems fake like someone has set me up and cameras are going to be pushed in my face any minute.

"Hey," Scott laughs pulling his helmet from his head.

"What's going on?" I yell over the low roar.

"You know," he beams.

"Same," I smile as someone grabs hold of my jersey pulling me through the crowd. "Whoa!" I yell just dodging a high stick.

"Come on! Come on!" Max yells anxiously as she breaks into a sprint.

"Can't we celebrate for a minute? I won the game!" I say pulling her hand from its grip on my shirt.

"We can celebrate when Derek has caught and killed the wendigos!" she yells bursting into the school.

"Wendigo?" I mutter following after her.

"Locker room?" she asks pointing down the left hallway.

"Yeah," I nod just as she reaches the door. She bursts through the door and spins around scanning the room. "There 16," I say pointing out my locker which she throws open. I pull off my helmet as she goes through my stuff.

"Oh look you found my book," she smiles turning toward me holding up the Strange and Fantastical Happenings book.

"You put my name in it and left it for me to find? Why didn't I even think of that? Of course, you would. You would never just think of giving it to me…" I shake my head as she pulls out my phone.

"Well I was going to try to keep you out of the mess I'm about to make, but I wanted to let you have the chance to know about it if you wanted too," she says typing numbers into the phone.

"What mess? Wendigo mess?" I ask as the phone meets her ear, I let my helmet and stick fall into my locker.

"You can read about it in your new book…" she mutters, before switching tones to speak to Derek. "We have a problem," she says spinning on her heel. "No, it's Max. No, I didn't steal it! The bodies are from a wendigo… Yeah actually, I think there are two or three, but there are going to be more. You think alphas are difficult to kill? Yeah… Sure… Probably fifteen minutes if I get Stiles to drive me," she looks over at me now eyes pleading.

"Yeah, sure," I shrug.

"Fifteen," she nods and hangs up the phone. "Ok let's go."

"Wait can't you tell me what's going on?" I ask scrambling for answers.

"I'll tell you in the car!" she yells running back toward the parking lot. Scott and the other players are in the hallway now, Max easily dips through them, but I have a harder time.

"What's the rush?" Scott smiles putting his arm out to stop me.

"Something's about to go down at Derek's," I mutter. Scott's arm drops as he turns to Isaac.

"We'll be there," Scott yells after me. I wave back as I slip around the corner. Max grabs my arm to help me up and then again, we are running. Down the hall, past the offices, out the front door and into my car.

"Go! Go!" she demands as we spin onto the road.

"Tell me," I demand.

"Drive faster," she retorts.

"Tell me faster!"

"I'm studying wendigos!" she yells.

"Oh, ok, that clears everything up for me!" I yell back.

"They are people who become cannibals and after time become these incredibly fast, incredibly dangerous hunters. They are the ones who have been killing and skinning those people. So far no one has gotten close enough to write any scientific knowledge on them, they always get killed first," she explains quickly looking nervously at me.

"Right, and you thought it would be a good idea to get close to them! I swear to God I only hang out with people who have a death wish! I thought you were normal!" I yell at her.

"No you didn't! There is no way in hell you ever thought I was normal!" she yells back. "The only reason you got close to me was because I'm not normal and that Stiles isn't normal! You're the one with the weird devotion to weird! And it's going to get you killed!" I can hear her start to cry.

"I'm sorry," I say quickly turning to her every other glance. "Don't cry."

"Stop looking at me and drive!" she yells. "I never should have talked to you in the woods. I shouldn't have let you drive me home or ask you on that walk…"

"It's too late now, I'm in the mess and I'm pretty sure I'd be in the mess whether we talked in the woods, drove in the car or went on the walk. I know the Hale's are werewolves," I glance at over at her just in time to see her eyes get wide.

"You know about Scott and Isaac then too?"

"It's Scotts deepest secret," I laugh slightly remembering her question by Lydia's pool. "How do you know about them?"

"I learned about the Hales when my parents introduced us. I learned about Scott and Isaac when I shook their hands. Werewolves have body temperature ten degrees warmer than a human. That's why I always shake people's hands, differing temperatures can tell me if people are hiding something."

"So when you shook mine?" I glance over at her. "First impressions, huh?" I laugh slightly then.

"My first impression, boy out in the woods in the middle of the night, something's got to be up, but when I shook your hand… You passed the human test," she shakes her head slightly. "I realized later that you only hang out with werewolves, a handshake wouldn't tell me why." She looks over at me, the tears have stopped.

"Why? Why do I?"

"Because your viciously loyal and infinitely curious." I pull the car to a stop and want to just stare at her, ask her a hundred more questions, but she leaps from the jeep and sprints toward Derek's apartment. I rush after her and reach her as she wraps on Derek's door. Scott and Isaac are already inside all of us stare at Max as she explains what she believes is to come.

"Wendigos are these once human monsters who took to cannibalism and over time transformed into these horrible beasts. They grow taller, thinner, faster and live hundreds of years. They are incredibly fast and unbelievably good at copying human sounds. They sleep all year round except for one day. On that day they eat, often times multiple humans, thing is they never stay awake for more than one day. They skin their meals alive and eat only the skins, which is why cannibals are known as flesh eaters," she explains quickly pulling a book thousands of large square pages long from her backpack. The book is bound in thick leather and is sealed with iron buckles, to keep the pixies out. She flips through the pages and stops at a sketch of a tall, thin humanoid figure with a skewed face covered in long stringy white hair.

"White?" I ask bending over the page. "Could that have been what ran in front of my jeep?" Max look up anxiously at me.

"My parents died avoiding one running across a street, so yes," she says in a much quieter tone. I feel like I should never speak again. "I came here to Beacon Hills to understand a strange happening almost ten years ago. I remember because it was just before my parents were going to start writing about werewolves. For days they argued about whether they should write about wendigos or werewolves. See people started reporting skinless bodies, but not on the same day, one was found one day then three weeks later a new fresh skinless just killed body showed up. By the end of that year, not a single thing was said about a skinless body in Beacon Hill again, not until I got here. Just in time I guess…"

"Why now? Why multiple bodies? That means multiple wendigos?" Peter asks from the back of the group.

"I don't know why now, all I can guess is the ten year mark. I have a theory based on something Stiles and I saw. A freshman that just moved here from Canada, a place where wendigos are known to reside, showed off some teeth that look very similar to this sketch my mom did," Max explains pointing at the next picture labeled "teeth". She looks around at each of us to make sure we are still following. "The best I can come up with is that one or both of the freshman's parents have become full fledge wendigos and are making him turn too. He's not full wendigo, but he's close, that would explain why the first body was neater, the older wendigo, the more experienced one killed the first one, the boy did the second."

"So I don't understand why this is important to us…" Scott says quietly.

"I mean we have to be thinking about the alphas don't we?" Isaac says turning to Derek who has his hand over his mouth.

"Well if what I think I know is true," Max starts as she looks into each of our faces. "Then these wendigos have evolved. They can stay awake, kill over multiple days, change their location and help turn more people to their side. If this isn't nipped in the butt, we could have a full-fledged wendigo army on our hands. About a hundred times worse than an alpha pack."

No one speaks, no one breathes, but only for a moment. My cell phone ringer cuts the silence. I pull it from my pocket, Lydia's name crosses the screen, and before I can stop myself, the receiver is to my ear.

"Stiles!" Lydia's voice crackles through the phone. "The alphas are here!" She screams and the line goes dead. Everyone is looking at me now.

"The alphas have Lydia."


	8. Chapter 8

**Look at me coming through on my word! I had some free time because my project partners skipped out on our meeting, so I wrote you guys a new chapter! Yay! This chapter is a little longer than normal, but thats because I smashed a lot of stuff into it. Thank you to everyone who has been reading, reviewing, favoriting and following! It means so much and it makes me want to continue ****writing, not only this story, but every story I've ever started. I hope you all like this chapter and expect the next one sometime next week! As always I do not own anything except for Maxine and the storyline. Enjoy!**

"Where are they?" Peter grunts pushing Derek out of the way.

"I don't know, I assume they have her at her house?" I stammer. My heart is beating in my ears and I feel my hands getting clammy with fear.

"Let's go," Derek instructs pushing Isaac in front of him.

"Wait! Wait!" Max yells and Derek stops. "You can't just barge in there! Don't you think that's what they want? How do you expect one alpha, two betas, and a used-to-be-dead-alpha to beat a pack of extra-strong-never-dead-alphas?"

"Scott's an omega," I say quickly scratching my head.

"Whatever!" Max glares at me. I shrug as an apology.

"We'll bring Cora and Boyd," Derek declares looking up where I assume Boyd and Cora are.

"They won't be any help," Peter sighs. "Stiles' wolfbane cuffs have them still crippled. Cora wakes up for only a few hours a day, Boyd even less. Their bodies need time to recharge and heal the wounds."

"I'm calling Allison…" Scott says pulling his phone from his pocket.

"Wait, why?" I yell putting my hand over the slim metallic phone.

"You have a better idea?" Scott says ripping the phone from my hand.

"We have to think this out," Isaac says worriedly. "Are you sure we should bring the Argents into this?"

"Didn't you say they gave up hunting?" I add trying to get Scott to rethink the call. But it doesn't work I can hear the faint ringing before he puts it to his ear.

"They still know more about hunting alphas than any of us. Maybe they could tell us what we are walking into before we walk into it… Allison?" All of us hold our breath, Scott included. "Yeah," he laughs slightly and air refills the room. "The alphas have Lydia, Allison… Hey! Hey!" he shouts into the phone now. "Allison calm down! We are going to save her, but we need to know anything your dad can tell us about hunting alphas!" We all wait in silence watching Scott wave his hands and spin around as he tries to communicate to his once lover. "Hi Mr. Argent," he pauses, his eyes locking on mine. "Alpha's look for a weakness in an enemies pack? Ok… But they didn't take someone from Derek's pack…"

"They took someone from your pack," Max grunts as she shoves her book back into her backpack. "They're after you Scott, not Derek."

"She's a friend of ours…" Scott stares at Max like the rest of us. "Max what's your last name?"

"Discite…" I say before she can.

"Discite?" Scott says into the receiver. "Why? What does it matter? Yeah, I guess she's coming… Wait! No Mr. Argent, you don't have to-" Scott looks at the phone now.

"Daddy Argent still doesn't like Scotty?" Peter asks mockingly.

"I don't think so," Scott grumps shoving his phone back into his pocket. "He told me he'd meet us at Lydia's…"

"So what is the plan?" Isaac asks quickly.

"I say we just charge in, we engage them long enough to get them away from Lydia. Then the last person gets Lydia out. There are five of them and with Argent; there are five of us. That leaves Max and Stiles, they can get Lydia out," Derek says in one long sentence.

"That plan has a lot of holes," Peter says leaning back against the closest wall.

"Well we have to do something and fast!" I yelp. My mind racing through possibility after possibility. They are hurting her, torturing her. She is screaming, they won't stop! I grab hold of the table to support myself.

"I think it's the best we can do under the circumstances. This girl is important, yeah?" Max asks looking between our faces.

"Yeah," I say shaking slightly. Lydia won't leave my head. She's tied up there. I see her, in her own bedroom, snarling wolves circling her.

"Well yeah we know she's important to you," Max groans and Isaac snorts.

"She's important to me too," Scott says quickly.

"We also have a bond…" Peter adds.

"We had a bit of a thing for awhile…" Isaac admits quietly looking only at Max. I bite my tongue to stop myself from screaming at him. Since when? When did they have a thing? Where was I? My head feels heavy like it might fall off.

"So she is literally connected to all of you except Derek?" Max's brow dips and looks over at Derek.

"I have no connection except I know she is their friend," Derek shrugs. "So maybe I'm not going into this fight hoping to save Lydia. I'm going in hoping to rid my town of these alpha sons of bitches."

"Alrighty," Max nods. "Derek's plan is going to work then. All of you have a reason to fight. Let's go," Max says pushing against my shoulder. We all look at each other and then file out of the building. Max pulls herself into my car as the rest of the boys sprint on all fours towards Lydia's house, Scott leading the way.

"What's the book about?" I ask as I pull into gear. Keep your head away from Lydia, I think. Distract yourself.

"My family has worked for thousands of years uncovering the truth on everything most people believe to be false. That book contains everything we know," she shrugs eyes focused on the road. My headlights dance in strange yellow forms on the wet pavement.

"So when you said research?"

"I meant for the book," she nods, but doesn't turn to me.

"Isn't it dangerous? Going after basically killing machines?" I frown.

"That's why my entire family is dead," she says in a monotone voice. "That's why you need to take this."

"What?" I say glancing down at her. She's rifling through her bag, her hand comes up holding a glinting revolver. "Whoa! Whoa!" I exclaim my knuckles turning white under pressure on the steering wheel.

"Ever shot a gun?" she asks quickly as she loads silvery bullets into the revolver.

"Like once, with my dad. I was like ten and it was at the police shooting range! I have never ever shot at anything alive! I've never even thought of-"

"Stiles!" she cuts me off and I go silent. "It's loaded with silver bullets. If you shoot a werewolf in the heart, they will die. It's not instantaneous, this will not keep them from killing you, but it will slow them down."

"Ok," I say sternly as we turn onto Lydia's street. All the lights in her house are off and its silent on the road. "She might not be here."

"My bet is, she is," Max says. "Stop here." She instructs and I pull the jeep to the side of the road. She hands me the gun, her icy blue eyes cutting into me like some kind of warning. She pulls open her door silently and steps out keeping her body low. I watch her slink over to the nearest tree. I try to copy, but I make exponentially more noise then her, she doesn't seem bothered by it though. I put the gun down the back of my pants like badasses on TV. We sit in silence then and watch the seemingly empty house.

"What are we-" I whisper, but she cuts me off with a shhh. I roll my eyes my heart beating faster now. My feet twitch and I want to get inside. I want to know what's happening. I want to know where Lydia is. Suddenly there is a loud crash killing the silence on the street, Max stands up as a body comes flying from the one of the kitchen windows.

"Oh my God! Who was that did you see?" I yell.

"Come on!" Max yells over me and the crashing and snarling pouring from Lydia's pretty little house. How perfect is it that her parents are never here? We dash toward the back gate and she quickly unlatches it. Someone hits the lights in the kitchen and the bloody scene unfolds in front of us like some sick play I never wanted to see. I feel my throat tighten as one of the twin's hands comes down hard on Scott's face blood hitting the French doors. Max's hand grabs mine and she turns into me. "We have one shot at this. We save Lydia at any cost? Right? That's what you want? Get her out no matter what?" I stare at her a minute not sure what she wants me to say.

"Yes…" I say slowly, the moment the word is gone from my lips her hand is gone from mine and she is charging at the French doors. Scott and the twin roll into the next room leaving Derek and the big guy wrestling amongst the cabinets. I catch a glimpse of Mr. Argent engaging the alpha, alpha, his eyes lock on Max as she pulls open the back door.

"Maxine!" Mr. Argent calls and Max turns her attention to him. "Upstairs!" She turns toward the stairs now. They're clear and Max takes her shot. We are up the stairs faster than I have time to realize we are running up stairs.

"Which room!" Max yells anxiously.

"Last door! Last door!" I point to the one with the flowers and Max throws it open. Lydia is inside tied to a chair, gag in her mouth. Tears are causing her makeup to fill her cheeks, she moans when she sees us. "It's ok! We'll get you out." I say in a steady tone, bending down to try and untie her. I hear cords snap and look over at Max who was smart enough to bring a knife.

"Knife," Max says quickly.

"Right," I nod switching positions to untie the gag. I should start carrying a knife. At the very least, a knife. Lydia's hands are free then and she undoes the gag herself before screaming and pointing at the open doorway. The wolf woman with black hair and unkempt toenails and fingernails stalks into the room, her face covered in blood. I can't tell if it's her own.

"They brought humans?" the woman's laugh is deep and throaty. Her claws try to meet Max's face, but Max ducks out of the way just in time. I watch in horror as Max's silver knife sinks into the woman's chest. The woman screeches thrashing around pulling the knife from her body, now glinting with blood. Max grabs hold of my shirt and shakes me hard.

"Get Lydia out no matter-" Max's stinging eyes are gone as the claws find Max's face and her body hits the ground. Lydia has wriggled her way out and is standing at the door. I glance over at Max the werewolf has dug her claws into Max over and over. Blood has started to pool around Max's now motionless body. I make a move to stop the werewolf, but Lydia's screams stop me.

"Stiles!" Lydia screeches looking backward down the hall. The wolf Derek had been in combat with is charging up the stairs. Huge muscles, giant height and terrible teeth and claws headed straight for Lydia. I fumble trying to pull the gun from the back of my shorts. It hits the ground and I copy scooping it up, I make a decision then that I didn't think I'd ever have to make. I chose Lydia. I let the trigger go, sending the silver bullet spinning at the large man. It knocks him back in surprise, but then he just laughs.

"It will heal," the man laughs like the woman, who is now watching our exchange.

"Doubt it!" I yell and his smile fades. He rips at his chest blood soaking his white shirt. He rips his shirt off around him exposing the hole Max's gun created. Black veins start to pop from his skin running quickly up his body, covering his face. The red-eyed alpha opens his mouth to speak, fury on his face, blood pours out instead of words. He reaches for Lydia, but before he can reach her Derek is pulling the monster down the stairs with him. I scramble to my feet as the dark haired woman turns to me, she has clearly seen me shoot her friend. Max lays still beyond her, blood and muscle are visible in the place the werewolf has bitten her. I plaster myself against the wall and cock the gun, I feel my eyes going wide as the bullet plows into the woman's chest, but it doesn't seem to faze her.

"He is my husband!" I hear her scream before a pain cuts through me and darkness surrounds me.

"Max!" I yell flipping up in a hospital bed. My room is empty only a dividing sheet, my bed, a slow flickering TV and me. I look sideways at a chair holding a shredded blood soaked vintage t-shirt, that once said Atari. I grab my heart feeling the thick cottony bandages stuck over my chest. I peel the bandages back to get a look at how bad it is, a couple of stitches, but nothing too bad. "Oh thank God…" I say my head hanging back. Pain screams through my head then, holding behind my eyes. Movement is bad. "Oh my God!" I say grabbing my forehead, also covered with thick bandages.

"Stiles!" Ms. McCall comes running in.

"What in the hell happened!" I yell angrily squinting my eyes hard, trying to kill the pain.

"Werewolf fight. They knocked you out, cut you up pretty good…" Ms. McCall explains calmly trying to push me back down in my new bed. "Don't get up! You might have a concussion." I push her hands off and spring from the bed. Darkness threatens the corners of my gaze, but I push through it into the hallway. I spin around looking for Max, her still bloody body hot in my head. I squint trying to dispel it.

"Stiles!" Dad yells pushing a few officers out of the way to reach me. "Get back into bed. You are hurt." His voice is serious, but his eyes are soft.

"Where is Max?" I say quickly spinning around; again, darkness threatens the corners of my vision.

"She's safe, you need to get back in bed until you feel better," Dad tells me sternly. I shake my head causing more black to creep in. I fight it off holding my hand to my wrapped head.

"Let me see her." Dad gives in then and escorts me to Max's room. Her room is dark besides the light of a few monitors. I almost miss the still head peaking from under the white cloth. She has oxygen running to her nose and an IV running into her arm. She looks small and helpless, fragile, like a doll. I inch closer to her bedside letting me see the left half of her face, eye included, has been completely covered in thick white bandages, spots of blood bleed through. Her mouth hangs open, but her stinging blue eye holds shut. I feel tears start to burn down my cheeks. If only I had shot the woman first… "She's going to wake up right?" I turn to Ms. McCall the moment she enters the room.

"We think so," she sighs wrapping her arm around my shoulders. "Let me get you a shirt-"

"She has to wake up." I say quickly. Ms. McCall won't look at me now.

"Stiles," dad sighs and I flip toward him.

"This is my fault! I had the chance to save her! I didn't take it!" I yell pushing tears away.

"What happened back there?" dad gasps slightly.

"Scott said it was an animal attack," Ms. McCall answers for me. "Somehow a wolf got into Lydia's house, scratched up a few off them seriously attacked these two…" I turn back to Max. She was dying and it was my fault. I chose to save Lydia.

"Stiles!" Scott's voice cuts the air as he barges in the room, I don't turn to him.

"Guys we can't stay in here," Ms. McCall informs us.

"I'll be out in one minute. Just give me a second alone," I say turning to them, love and hurt mixed on their faces. They nod then and one by one leave the room. I pull a nearby chair closer to Max's bedside and take up her hand laying as still as the rest of her. "I chose her, Max. Why did I choose her?" My throat catches as the tears start coming faster. "I could have saved you, you could be awake right now!" She doesn't move. "I made the wrong choice." Her hand squeezes mine back as the one stinging blue eye flutters open.

"No," she smirks slightly shifting in her bed.

"Were you awake the whole time?" I ask, violently standing up, the chair flying backward away from me.

"You guys were yelling a lot," she says quietly.

"Max I'm sorry," I sob.

"Hey," she grunts and I bite my lip to stop it from quivering. "You do look good without a shirt on." I just stare at her a moment and she starts to laugh. Then the room that felt like death suddenly feels like home. "You made the right choice, we were there to save Lydia," she shrugs. "That's why we talked about it before going inside." She smiles putting her hand over my bandaged chest.

"But if we were to go back," I say quickly. "I'd make the other shot."

"No you wouldn't," Max keeps that smile, but I can see water form in the corners of her eyes. "You love Lydia, you'll always save Lydia."

"No I don't," I shake my head hard covering her hand over my heart. "When I saw you… When I walked in here and you were lying so still I thought you were-"

"Stiles?" Ms. McCall say pushing open the door. I turn to her sharply as she bursts in the door yelling. "She's awake!" A bunch of nurses come flooding into the room then as Ms. McCall pulls me backward out the door. She slams it on me.

"You can't!" I shout trying to reach for the door handle, dad and Scott hold me back. "Please!" I plead trying to push them off. Dad loses his grip, but not Scott. He forces me into the chair beside Max's door and holds me there as my masculinity comes pouring down my face.

"Stiles," my dad grabs onto my shoulders before pulling me into a hug. "She's awake, the doctors can better help her now!" He drops the hug and I drop my face into my hands.

"What happened Scott?" my dad demands.

"Truthfully sir, I didn't see," Scott says quietly. "Lydia and Max were the only ones with Stiles. I was downstairs…"

"I'm going to speak with Lydia," dad says sternly. "Stiles do you want to see Lydia?" dad asks looking down at me. I shake my head and he sighs before marching down the hallway.

"You don't?" Scott asks quickly as he sits beside me. His cheek was covered from where the twin's claw met his face, but we both knew it would be healed in an hour or so. "You sure?"

"Do I look sure!" I yell pointing at my hard face.

"Ok, ok," Scott says as my crying reseeds into unsteady breathing.

"She's alive," I say quickly.

"Yeah," Scott says happily.

"But she's going to be a werewolf." I say turning to Scott, his smile fades.

"We don't know that, Lydia didn't-"

"Then she'll go insane! That isn't much better Scott!" I bark at him then think better of it. "I'm sorry." We sit in silence a minute.

"Mom says you weren't bit," Scott says quietly.

"No, I wasn't…" I sigh turning my head with passerbys. Wheelchairs, beds and feet carry patients on their way. We sit in silence again. "How many did we kill?"

"All of them except the leader…" Scott says quietly his head drooping.

"I shot two of them." He nods his head. "In the wrong order."

"What do you-"

"Max wasn't bit until after I shot my first bullet. I could have killed the one that was going to bite her. I could have saved her."

"It's not your fault-"

"Don't." We sit in silence. For the first time in a long time I have nothing to say to my best friend. Max's door opens and I jump up peering inside the bodies pass and then the door closes. Ms. McCall stands in the way of the little window on the door. "Can't I see her?"

"She's unconscious again, Stiles," Scott's hand grips my shoulder. Instead of shaking him off, I let him help support my body weight.

"She might be faking, she was faking before-"

"Stiles. She's unconscious." Ms. McCall says quietly.

"Why don't you go home, get some rest and come back tomorrow morning?" Ms. McCall suggests.

"Because she could be dead by then." I say seriously and Scott's hand falls away.

"Can't he stay?" Scott asks his anxious looking mother.

"Of course he can, but he has to stay outside of Mrs. Discite's room," Ms. McCall crosses her arms and I nod sitting back down in my chair.

"You'll let him know when he can see her?" Scott asks for me again.

"Yes, you'll be the first to know," Ms. McCall says leaning down to kiss me on the top of my head. She smiles and then disappears down the hallway.

"Want me to go back to your place and get you a shirt?" Scott asks quickly.

"That'd be great," I nod letting my head rest on the back of my chair.

"Ok I'll be back soon," Scott says looking at me hard.

"You know what?" I ask just before he's about to turn away. "I had two chances to stop her from dying or turning… I could of shot her before her mate or I could have killed them that night in the woods, with the whistle."

"Stiles…" Scott starts, but he doesn't finish. "I'll be back in a minute."

I press back into my chair, the vinyl sticking to my skin. I had slept here before, just like this, just outside the door, for Lydia. Thinking about her left a bad taste in my mouth like cold soup or aerosol on the air. All that time I spent waiting for her, shopping for her, talking to her, being there for her and yet, she still keeps me at arms length. Max embraces me. She's my Goddamned friend. I saved Lydia. I close my eyes trying to get her out of my head, but there she stands, happy, strong and tall, leaning menacingly over Max's body. She is going to claw her, bite her, turn her into one of these things, change her life, maybe ruin it! I cock my gun at her, but before the bullet hits her, I jolt up in my chair realizing I'd dozed off. Ms. McCall walks past and I jump up to meet her.

"Nothing yet Stiles," she says solemnly looking toward Max's door. I nod and sit back down, the vinyl on my back was making me claustrophobic so I stand up again and start to pace.

"Got it," Scott says tearing down the hall waving a shirt over his head like a flag. I pull the faded red shirt over my head and laugh slightly at the irony of him picking this shirt out of every shirt I own. "Sweatshirt too," Scott says pulling a grey and navy blue drawstring sweatshirt from his backpack.

"Thanks," I nod at him as I pull it on. We both stare through Max's window, computer screens jumping along with her heartbeat.

"She's going to be ok, I can tell." Scott says clapping me on the back. "Wolf or not, she's going to live and she's going to forgive."

"Funny thing is," I smile slightly now. "She'd only be mad at me if I hadn't saved Lydia instead of her."

"Then why so upset?" Scott says cheerily.

"Because I saved Lydia instead of her."

"You'd be beating yourself up either way! If you saved Max you'd be outside Lydia's hospital room right now!" Scott declares as my dad followed by Lydia round the corner. Lydia walks up to me and stops. Her big round eyes such a contrast from Max's sharp ones.

"Thank you for saving me," she says quickly her hand brushing back her hair showing off one measly scratch.

"You aren't badly hurt?" Scott asks quickly.

"No, barely at all, thanks to Stiles," her words cut me unintentionally. "They just kept me here for questioning after they checked me over…" Scott nods as dad leads Lydia out of the hospital. I turn back to Max's door just in time to see Ms. McCall step inside.

"It could be nothing," Scott says his arms crossing. "They have to check vitals ever four hours." A moment later Ms. McCall comes out careful to close the door behind her. She looks up at me with big sad eyes.

"What? What?" I ask almost jumping on her.

"Just sad to see someone so young with no family," she smiles sadly at her son before taking his hand. "She is stable, but out cold. How is your head?"

"It's fine, it's fine! Just please help her," I point toward Max's door and Ms. McCall nods.

"We are honey, but you're health is important too…"

"Mom," Scott says quickly. "My face is already almost healed I can feel it. Do Max's wounds look any more healed?"

"I thought you said she wasn't…" Ms. McCall gestures to Scott.

"Well she wasn't but she was bit…" Scott says quietly.

"No signs of premature healing," Ms. McCall says quietly. "She's all human from what I can tell." Scott nods and his mom goes on her way.

"Peter bit Lydia then died. This wolf bit Max and then died. Lydia went crazy then. Max is going to go crazy, Scott," I yelp turning to him. I feel the tears coming again. "I did this!"

"Stiles!" Scott says his had gripping the back of my neck so our faces are close. "We deal with this one step at a time, we know nothing yet. Come on let's go cool off. I'll get you a bag of gummy worms, you go splash some water on your face, ok?" Scott stares through me and I nod. He watches me turn into the men's room before turning toward the vending machines. I walk up to the sink looking hard at my disheveled appearance. I'm paler then usual, with big red eyes and a white bandage circling my head like an old time cartoon character. I run the cold water dipping my hands into it. I let it soak my face before rubbing it against my neck. Surprisingly I do feel somewhat better. I walk back across the hall to Max's room peering in the door Ms. McCall is again standing over Max's bed. She rushes toward the door when she sees me.

"She wants to see you," Ms. McCall says opening the door for me. I barrel in and pick up the chair I sent flying.

"Hey," she laughs slightly as I fight with the chair.

"How are you?" I ask once I finally get the chair to reach her bedside.

"I'm fine. Sorry I feel asleep like that, they were all so boring compared to you," she snickers. "How are you?" She says reaching out to brush my fabric covered forehead.

"Looks great doesn't it? I feel like an old cartoon character," I snort.

"What a wonderful thing to be," she smiles. "How is Lydia?"

"Fine. They are all fine. Are you fine?" I ask quickly.

"Yes!" she laughs slightly. "Just a few cuts Stiles I'm not dying…"

"Or turning?"

"Into what?" she looks sideways at me with a smile. "A werewolf?" she outwardly laughs then.

"You were bit! It's not an absurd thing to ask!" I yell at her.

"Stiles, I'm not turning into a werewolf," she shakes her head.

"How do you feel mental health wise?" I ask trying to get closer to her like I could see the crazy in that one blue eye.

"I'm not feeling like I should run through the woods naked either," she shakes her head at me. I open my mouth to speak, but I can't find any words. "Yeah I read about Lydia's jaunt after her "strange animal attack". I'm not going insane. As a Discite I have a powerful spell on me. I guess my grandfather's hoodoo loving girlfriend put it on his entire family tree. I can't become a werewolf. Or a vampire or a mermaid or a ghost or any of that stuff!" she informs me quietly.

"All of those are real?" I ask feeling like a little kid.

"You can read all about them in my book," she smirks.

"So even if you wanted to be a werewolf-"

"I would never want to be a werewolf," she says quickly. "Their lives seem terribly difficult."

"How?" I laugh. "They are ten times faster than us, ten times stronger than us, they are-"

"Hunted? Fictional?" she butts in.

"Two downsides, but overall?" I ask seriously.

"I have met everything your daddy told you was fake, twice and I have never met anything even remotely as interesting as a human. I like humans," she says taking my hand.

"But if I was a werewolf then maybe you wouldn't be in this hospital bed…" I say squeezing her hand.

"No, I'd be dead, because you would have been fighting alongside Scott and Derek," she says rolling her eyes.

"You don't know that," I say quickly.

"And you don't know that I'd be better off with you being a werewolf!" she retorts almost angrily, but she still clings to my hand. "I like humans." She pauses the one blue eye stinging into me. "And I'm going to be fine."

"Stiles? Max?" dad says as he opens the door behind me. I turn to him as he walks in. "Can I talk to Max for a minute?" he asks and I nod. Max squeezes my hand hard once more before I turn and leave. Scott stands outside the door looking impatient, a bag of gummy worms in one hand.

"Well, how is she?"

"She's going to be fine," I smirk at him. "Those all for me?"

"Well I wanted-" I snatch the bag from him. "Oh come on!" he laughs as I hold them out of his reach.

"Werewolves don't eat worms," I tell him in low tone.

"Neither do humans!" Scott grunts.

"Don't be so sure," I snicker dropping one into my open mouth. "Humans are a lot more interesting then werewolves give us credit for."


End file.
